


Three bitches and a puppy - Theme park

by Fleppy85



Series: 3 bitches and a puppy [1]
Category: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:08:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 34,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24964258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fleppy85/pseuds/Fleppy85
Summary: A man got shot in a theme park. Was it a planned or random killing and why did he have to die? A lot of questions and a lot of work that gets Sara and Sofia to work together and even spend some quality time together.
Relationships: Sofia Curtis/Sara Sidle
Series: 3 bitches and a puppy [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1806838





	Three bitches and a puppy - Theme park

Part 1

Theme parks are fun for big and small children. Theme parks are places were families come together and have a whole day fun, entertainment and adventures, together with some junk food, packed sandwiches and popcorn on a bench next to the roller coaster. They are packed with different areas, called worlds, different times and different recommendations for age, build and health conditions. They are showing animals, water attractions, information about certain topics and/or famous cartoon or TV/movie stars. Even they seem to be the same, they are all different instead of two things: everybody is suppose to have fun and nobody is suppose to be harmed.   
This theme park was like all the others when it doors open in the morning and hundreds of people walk inside to get as fast as possible to their favorite attractions. Take the fastest one, the highest one, the wettest one, the funniest one, they were all great, they were all made for families, groups and single people who wanted to have some fun. What this park wasn’t made for was the one thing that brought a group of six people here: murder.   
“I wonder if we find some silver.” The young man with the blondish hair said.   
“I could use a new silver collar.” The reddish blonde lifted her shades.   
“Feels like going back to Texas.” The man with the Texan accent remembered his childhood.   
“Over thousand square yards of crime scene.” The voice of the brunette was without any emotion.  
“Over hundred witnesses and only God knows how many suspects.” The afro-American man guessed.   
“One killer.” Was all the gray haired man had to say.   
The nightshift team of the Las Vegas crime lap was in the theme park, ready to find out why in a park full of amusement, built to have fun, somebody died.   
“The whole team, you’ll love it.” Captain Jim Brass came out of the silver mine.   
“You want a whole team for one 419, Jim.”  
“Gunshot wound to the head. Approximately three hundred people in the ride, the same amount waiting for a ride and another three thousand people in the park. Think I asked for too many people?”  
“Do you have six officers at the scene?”  
“Five dozen.”  
“So you outnumbered us.”  
“Feel free to get more of your people in here, you’ll need them.”  
“Where are the three hundred who were in the ride.”  
“Most of them are in a separate room, as good as they could keep them together. You ask me, everybody had the chance to leave the group and go anywhere else. But at least nobody left the park; not through the door. A few want to go home.”  
“A few?”   
“A few hundred.”  
“Anyone of them could have fired the murder weapon.”  
“You tell them.”  
“Can we rule some out?”  
“There are cameras all over the park, to look through all videos will take days. My men will take name and address. Problem is, not everybody has a license or I.D. with them.”  
“Cath, Nick, you go to the exit and test everybody for gunshot residue, Warrick, do the same with the people in the room. Greg, you take the way from the entry to the ride and from the ride to the exit, cover also the area around this ride. Garbage bins, bushes, every place somebody can hide a gun. Sara, you come with me inside.”  
“The ride is half a mile long.”  
“The crime scene?”  
“Half a mile long.” Brass made a grimace. “The vic was found when he as supposed to leave the ride. It’s loud, dark, nobody knows exactly where he got shot.”  
“Do you have more good news?”  
“I do but I want to keep some for later. Enjoy the scene.”  
“Thanks.” Grissom nodded to his team and everybody left to their designed areas. With Sara he walked into the hall, that looked like a mountain where people two hundred years ago worked to get silver and gold. An old mine that didn’t bring luck to one man.   
David was inside the ride, examining the body. A long row of wagons were in front of them. There was no visible start or end.   
“Hey Grissom, hi Sara, where are the others?”  
“Working on the rest of the scene; after the scene is the whole park. What do you have?”  
“Dennis Mendez, forty-five years old, from Vegas. Wallet was in his pocket. Gunshot wound to the forehead, my guess is a nine millimeter. No other wounds, no defensive wounds, no signs of a fight. Blood in the wagon suggests he was killed in here.”  
“Any idea where the killer had been?”  
“Somewhere in front of him.”  
“Thanks, I thought so.” Grissom turned to Sara. “Feel like looking for the primary crime scene?”  
“Sure.” She took her flashlight. There was no real light inside the mountain. Step by step she made her way from the body in the mountain, looking on the ground, the wall and the ceiling for any traces of blood. Over a thousand square feet of a crime scene she had to check by herself. This would be a long night. After all it was already morning. 

Sara was around one hundred yards away from the body. A scene of a Mexican village in flames was in front of her. The house made of cardboard was in flames, a huge females doll was in the window in the second story, calling for help (Ayuda! Ayuda!), two male dolls dressed as fire fighter were in front of the house, pumping non existing water out of a wagon. On a well was a horse standing, drinking out of a bucket and a drunken man was sitting backwards on it, laughing.   
“Creepy, isn’t it?”  
Sara turned around. She hadn’t heard the detective coming closer. There was an officer half way back to the body (or where David had examined the body they would be gone by now) and she assumed some others further inside.   
“Don’t do that to me, Sofia.”  
“Scared, mujer?”  
“What are you doing here? Get of my crime scene.”  
“Secure the scene, there are hundreds of places where the killer could hide. Brass and me figured you guys prefer to have a former CSI walking around than an officer.”  
She was right on that. At least Sara could be sure with Sofia around, the blonde didn’t touch things she wasn’t suppose to touch.   
“Found something?”  
“It’s kind of dark here, I checked behind the cardboard buildings, wagons and whatever else is in here. I wish they’d turn off the noise.”  
“Don’t change the scene.” Sara smiled. She shared the wish of the detective, it was annoying loud in here but they had to see the scene the way the killer did.   
“Lucky me I’ll finish my round and leave you to this noise while I deal with the witnesses.”  
“A few thousand.”  
“Don’t forget to take fingerprints of the wagons, Sidle.” Sofia smirked. She was sure Sara had more fingerprints to lift than she had people to talk to.  
“Bite me.”  
“No, gracias. Que le vaja bien, pava.”  
“I don’t speak Spanish.”  
“Lo siento. Adios.”  
Sara pouted and turned. She could simply ignore Sofia, that was no big deal for her. There were some more important things in here than the detective…the next scene of her silver mine ride. She left the burning house and came to another part of the village. A pub. A man behind the bar who looked like he was his best customer (Salud!), a group of musician playing a flamenco sound and a Mexican woman on a table, dancing while four drunken men look at her.   
Sara tried to move any of the things on the table but it was glued and there was a lot of dust. An inch of dust meant whoever was responsible to maintain this ride didn’t care about a clean ride. It also told her, nobody had been around this scene, there would be shoeprints otherwise. The only print she found so far was likely Sofia’s, they looked like her boots.   
What an ending. You go to a theme park to have a nice day and end up shot. Did this guy know his killer? Was it a hit or a random killing? Who would hide in a ride to kill somebody? And why did nobody hear the shot?  
The war scene next got her attention. A fort with around a dozen soldier dolls on top, shooting at around two dozen Mexican dolls that tried to capture the fort. Two ladders with men trying to climb the walls, two big canons some men with guns, a few shot and dead on the ground. This was a place where you could fire a real gun and everybody who didn’t listen carefully or wasn’t trained on real guns wouldn’t hear the difference. Could this be her primary crime scene?   
Carefully she walked along the fort, got behind it. There was no ladder or anything else to get on top of the fort. The dolls were on a small board, around a foot wide. Whoever had got them up had a ladder and some technical help. She took more photos and got back on the battle field. If the killer hid behind a cannon, the big stone or pretended to be a doll and lay on the ground, he could have shot without anybody seeing him. The question was, how did he leave the battlefield? This ride was without an end, there were constantly people at the scene, he had no chance to move.   
What about surveillance? Brass hadn’t said anything about cameras, there had to be some, it was impossible to have people in here and no surveillance cameras. They needed the tapes, the killer could be on it.   
“You know you look like you belong to this scene.”  
“I’ll shoot you the next time you’re creeping up on me.” Sara grumbled. She had her hand already on her weapon because Sofia’s scared her.   
“I thought you’re talking to witnesses.”  
“I missed you.”  
“Yeah sure, stop sucking up. What do you want?”  
“Did you find anything yet?”  
“No.”  
“I like this for the primary crime scene.”  
“So do I but I can’t find anything. I thought of the fort but there are no ladders behind. If the killer was on the battle field somebody must have seen him when he left here. The only shoeprint I found so far could be yours. At least it’s your size.”  
“I’ll bring you my boots later to the lab, same with the ones of the officers. They were suppose to stay on the walkway…”  
“The walkway is clean, people walk here every day, I can’t get any good print from here but yes, give them to us. Or at least a print of them. What about surveillance?”  
“There’s no photo service like in other rides, seems like this isn’t exciting enough to have it as a memory. Surveillance is everywhere but not good enough to see a lot. I took a look at it, you can see when somebody gets up, you can’t see what the people are doing with their hands. This is the oldest ride in the theme park and so is the surveillance.”  
“The killer might have known that.”  
“Could be.”  
“An insider?”  
“Do you know this theme park?”  
“No, I’ve never been to it before.” Sara wasn’t into theme parks. Too many people in one park and much to many people in a row to get on a ride. It was too close to comfort here most times.   
“I was here as a child, I can remember riding this one when I was here with my dad when I was in primary school.”  
“Which takes us how back how long? How many decades? Centuries?” Sara grinned evil.  
“Probably around the time when you finished university.” Sofia shot back dryly.  
“Yeah I was a very clever child and finished it early.”  
“I doubt you were a child. Anyway, the new rides have new surveillance, this one has a systems that’s around ten years. It’s a slow ride, nothing can happen in here, nothing ever happened in here.”  
“That changed today.”  
“Yes. Grissom is still working on the wagon the body was found in. It looks like you’re on your own here.”  
“I am – until you come along and scare me.”  
“No need to be scared, Sara, I take care of you. We detectives know, you CSI guys need protection.”  
“Can’t you just leave me alone and work?”  
“I can. See you later.”  
“Make it much later and I’ll be happy.”  
“Pave.”  
“Whatever.” Sara turned and made her way to the next theme. Sofia was today even less useful than she was other days.

Sara sighed. She was tired, she wanted to go home, she had worked fourteen hours. Instead of going home, catch some sleep she had to go to the lab and from there to the police department. They had found the two people who were next to the body in the wagon. Two children.   
“I thought Grissom would come along.” Sofia was as tired as Sara was and the brunette could see it.  
“He talks to the owner of the theme park, who just arrived from Dallas.”  
“Will the park be closed for a couple of days?” Sofia got a coffee from the vending machine and handed it over to Sara. “It’s disgusting, it’s hot, it’s full of caffeine.” She warned.  
“Thanks.” Sara smiled slightly. At one point you have to choose between being awake and having an upset stomach or being to tired that you’ve no idea what the one next to you talks about. Sara knew, she wasn’t far away from the second state.   
“Is this the last thing you’ve to do today? Or is there any work at the lab waiting?”  
“There’s a lot of work waiting but I hope I can catch four or five hours of sleep.”  
“Six or seven?”  
“Not enough time for that.”  
“I know that problem.” Sofia threw her empty plastic cup away. She left the rest of the coffee in it, it got more disgusting the closer she came to the last sip. Sara imitated her. Sofia was right, this coffee was disgusting, now Sara felt so sick, she wasn’t that tired anymore.  
“Ready?”  
“Yeah. Are they in with the parents?”  
“The parents and a psychologist.” Sofia opened the door and let Sara walk in first to close the door behind her.   
“Misses Balko, Mister Balko, I’m detective Curtis, that’s Sara Sidle with the crime lab. Doctor Weinberg.” Sofia sat on the empty side of the table, facing the three adults and the two children. Sara sat next to the detective. She guessed the children, two girls, around six and nine.   
“And who are these two lovely young ladies?” She asked the two girls.  
“Mary-Anne.” The older one said.  
“Madeleine.”  
“Nice names. Did your parents tell you why you’re here?”  
“Somebody got hurt in the theme park.” Mary-Anne said.   
“That’s right. Can you remember the Silver Mine? The carousel you were in a wagon and drove through the wild west?”  
“Yes.”  
“You were sitting next to a man.”  
“Madeleine was next to the man.” The father said.   
“Why were the children not with you?” Sara asked.   
“We had the baby with us, there wasn’t enough space for the two girls, so they sat in front of us.”  
“A baby?”  
“He’s with my mother, he’s seven months, we didn’t take him here.”  
“That’s alright, he better off where he is now.” A seven months old baby wasn’t a witness and no help in a case like this. “What can you tell us about the drive? Did you hear anything unusual?”  
“We’ve been to this theme park twice before, the ride was like all the times before. Nothing seemed to be different until we got stopped at the end. We didn’t know it was because of the man next to the girls until your colleague told us.”  
“Do the girls have to hear all this?” The mother asked anxious.  
“We need their clothes in case there’s some evidence on it.” Sara said.  
“Their clothes?”  
“Yes. We’ll give them something to wear, I can go with them to another room while you talk to detective Curtis. This way they don’t hear any details.”  
“I’ll come with them to make sure they’re fine.” The psychologist offered.   
“Our babies…” The mother started.  
“They’ll be fine and it will be faster this way?” Mister Balko looked at Sofia who nodded.   
They waited until Sara, doctor Weinberg and the children were gone.   
“Do you know who shot the man?” Mister Balko asked.   
“We’re investigating that.”  
“If I think whoever did that could have hit our children…” Misses Balko started to cry. Sofia wanted to soothe her, tell her, her children were at no time at risk but she couldn’t do that. She had no idea if that was true, she was afraid it was more likely, the children had been at risk when they were in the Silver Mine. Even when the shooter had the victim as his aim, it was dark, it was easy to miss your target.   
“They’re fine, there’s no evidence they were the target. Did you see anybody walking around? A electrician? Somebody dressed in the outfit of the park employees?   
“No. Everybody was in the wagons.”  
“Did you see the man talking to anybody? Was he waiting in front of you? Behind you?”  
“He must have been in front of us. I didn’t notice him, I was busy with our son while my wife looked after the girl. I remember I looked at him when the girls had to sit next to him, like, you know, I wanted to make sure, he’s alright. He didn’t seem to be a threat, an ordinary man. I was wondering why he was alone in the park but then again, it’s in the middle of the week, I guess it’s not the best time for an ordinary family. If the school of the girls hadn’t been closed for the day, we would have had an day like every day before. But we thought it’s the perfect opportunity to have an half empty theme park, to see more, to do more because you don’t have to wait for such a long time.”  
“It’s not your fault.”  
“Our girls…they’ll get nightmares.”  
“They never saw what happened to the man.”  
“They’ll find out.”  
“The psychologist will stay with your children and your family, you can call her, she’ll come along when you need her.”

Sofia tried her best to get as much information from the parents and to calm them as she could. Both didn’t work too good, they couldn’t tell her if the man had talked to anybody, if anybody was interested in him or who was sitting in front of them.   
When the parents took the girls away she joined Sara and doctor Weinberg.  
“Anything from the girls?”  
“Nothing. They were too busy watching the different scenes.” Sara had a quarter in her hands to get a new coffee, considering if she wanted a new boost of caffeine to stay alert or if she should listen to her body and go home instead of punishing it another time.   
“Want a coffee?” She looked at Sofia who shook her head. She couldn’t handle more than one of these coffees a night. Day.  
“How bad is it?” Doctor Weinberg asked.  
“Worse.”  
“Do I have to drink it when I don’t like it?”  
“Everybody will understand when you throw it away.”  
“In that case I’ll take a risk.”  
Sara got the coffee out.  
“Thanks Sara.”  
“You’re welcome.” No coffee for herself, her stomach just told her. “What did the parents tell you, Sofia?”  
“Nothing. They didn’t notice the man before the girls were sitting next to him. The father had a look at him, to see who was next to his daughters, made the decision he looked alright and that’s it. They checked a few times on the girls during the drive, everything was fine. Nobody paid attention when he didn’t got up to leave the wagon.”  
“You’re an assistant in a fun ride, a person with a bullet sits in the wagon, don’t you notice immediately?”   
“I saw only pictures but it looked to me like there wasn’t much blood, there was a bullet hole. First of all it’s not that bright in these place, you could take it as a culture or religious sign, you don’t have to be Indian to be Hindu.” Doctor Weinberg guessed. “Second there’s so much face painting going on, people are crazy, maybe somebody wants to walk around the whole day like a victim of a shooting.”  
“People are crazy? What kind of statement is that? From a shrink?” Sara chuckled.   
“You don’t agree?”  
“Never said that, just wondered about the unprofessional statement, doc.”  
“Got a better idea?”  
“People are evil. Simple plain evil.”  
“I can’t agree on that.”  
“Do we get a profile of the killer?”  
“Nobody requested that and I’m not a profiler.”  
“You’re a psychologist, you live in people’s head. What is going on in a head of a person who shoots a – so far – stranger in a fun ride?”  
“If he was a stranger? There are some mental diseases that could made him believe this man was a personal threat.”  
“Paranoia.”   
“For example. That leads me to the question, how did he get in the gun? By entering the theme park the security system should give alarm to the security men.”  
“An employee?”  
“He got the gun in, he seemed to know where and when to shoot that nobody saw and heard him. This was planed by somebody who knows a lot about the Silver Mine.”  
“You suggest we should talk to the employees.”  
“The employees who work or worked in the Silver Mine, maintenance people.”  
“A few dozen suspects.”  
“More important suspects. It’s not like the other people around are not people of interest anymore.” Sofia sighed. She was afraid it was her job to get them all in, check on them and talk to them.   
“Are you going to get them all in now?”  
“I’ll leave that to my coworker from day shift. I doubt I’m able to drive a few times through Vegas to get people of interests in, neither am I able to interrogate them. I need a few hours of sleep otherwise I won’t be a help anymore.”  
“I know somebody else who needs some sleep.” Doctor Weinberg looked at Sara.  
“Yeah, I know.” She got with her hands through her face, tried to rub away the fatigue. “We meet again later, Sofia?”  
“Yeah. I’ll leave it to my coworker to send the top five in for tonight. Anybody with a sheet or who comes up with something else to them. Will you be back with me? Eight o’clock?”  
“I’ve no idea if I’ll be here or in the lab, I guess it depends on how the guys got on with the evidence. Seven?”  
“Eight.” Doctor Weinberg answered for Sofia. “You need some sleep, Sara. Let me tell you as a doctor.”  
“You’re a shrink, not a doctor.”  
“The sign on my door says I’m Doctor Weinberg, that makes me a doctor. I’m a doctor of medicine, you know that.”  
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”  
“I take that as a yes for my eight. I do need some sleep, without any advice of a doctor. See you later, Sara. Thanks doc.”  
“You’re welcome, detective.”

Sara was back at the scene instead of the lab or the police department. There had been only a single tiny blood spot on the shirt of the older girl, who sat right next to the man. Sara’s job was now to walk along the whole left side of the fun ride and hope to find another blood drop. She used Luminol and worked her way in the Silver Mine, yard by yard. It was slow work, it would give her backache but other than in the morning, she could work in silence. Not having music, screaming people and other noises around her, it was a kind of relaxing. There were two officers at the entrance and exit of the fun ride, inside she was alone.   
When she was done with the area on the left she had to do the same with the wagons. Here she had a little help. Archi had calculated with some help of his computer which wagons were likely the one she was looking for. He used the time the body was discovered, the speed of the fun ride and size of the wagons. They hadn’t moved the ride, Sara had to start at the place where people got off and walked into the Silver Mine. But that laid ahead, she had to concentrate on what she was doing now.  
Another yard without blood. She wondered what kind of traces she mind find. She remembered the time they had investigated the roller coaster in another theme park. Having sex in a running roller coaster was unusual. If she found the same traces here? It was dark, cozy, the wagons moved slowly, the perfect place for couples to be alone. Or to feel like they’re alone.   
There was something. She was in the Mexican village. A spot shinned in her light. Cross section dimension of a foot, too big. She got an example, took photos but her guess was, she found a place somebody had used bleach. By taking out the wooden board of the path they could check for hidden blood splatter.   
She marked the place and went on. It was something but very likely not what she was looking for. Step by step she worked her way through the village, took no time for a second look at the scene around her, the grotesque looking dolls, making shadows that could look dangerous when you were easy to frighten. Or very suspicious.   
She left the war scene behind herself, a little bit disappointed she didn’t find anything there. She liked it as the primary crime scene most. The sound of bullets, the perfect place to shoot somebody without making people suspicious where the shot came from. But no matter how good she looked, there was nothing.   
Back to another Mexican village. Why did they call it ‘Silver Mine’ there was no scene with people working in a mine. The only thing Sara could recall was a man with a carriage, trying to force his donkey in the mine. The carriage had been too big for the small animal and he was whipping the donkey to make it pull harder.   
“Don’t be scared.”  
A nice warning but hearing a voice out of the blue scared Sara for a second. She took her flashlight and found Sofia a few yards away.   
“What are you doing here?”  
“I want to see if you found something and do a check. Two officers are outside, we both know there are other ways to get in. Call it checking on the CSI.”  
“The CSI is fine.”  
“Found something?” Sofia stood on the right side of the wagons, knowing Sara was working on the left and she more likely not to destroy evidence on the other side.   
“I found something, I guess a place somebody worked with bleach. The splatter is too big to be a blood spatter from our case. What we found on the girl’s shirt was tiny, this had a cross section dimension of a foot. Only tiny spots on his shirt, I’m looking for something in the same size.”  
“The war scene?” Sofia liked that area as their primary crime scene too.  
“Nothing.”  
“Bugger. With a silencer he could be killed anywhere and nobody heard anything.”  
“Somewhere in here. You talked to the employees?”  
“Yeah, I got no vibe from them. And they all had somebody who could verifier their whereabouts. I need to check if maybe two of them planed this together, than again, nobody could remember the guy, nobody saw him before. When you know your target is in this ride, you get prepared for it, you need to know that he really comes here. Is he a regular? Comes here like ones a month, always the same day, always the same time for the same rides? Then somebody must have know him, recognize that he was here often. We got nothing of him.”  
“He had a single ticket, no year around pass, only for yesterday.”  
“Living in Vegas we’re used to that everything is open 24/7, but since when do theme parks join this craziness?”  
“It was a special week, only this week the theme park was open 24/7. Most people use the early morning because it’s too hot around noon.” The temperatures had reached over hundred twenty the last two days, even people who loved the sun preferred to stay from eleven to three in the afternoon inside.   
“The Balkos arrived at six, went straight to here.” Sofia said. “They wanted to be here until ten, eleven, go back home for a nap and come back around three. The tickets are valid for twenty-four hours.”  
“I wonder when they check on the rides. Will there be no checking for one week?”  
“They’ll be checked during the night. Each ride will close for two hours to get checked. The Silver Mine was checked…” Sofia got her notepad out and looked for the information she had written down earlier. “…from one to three. Everything was alright.”  
“If we keep thinking of an employee as the perpetrator, this was the best time to prepare the killing.”  
“Yeah but why…” Both heard the little click and before Sara could react, Sofia, who had changed from the right side to the left side, standing where Sara had worked already, jumped and got them both down. She had no idea where exactly the click had come from, the only thing that was available as a shield was an old wooden box.   
There was no bang, there was no whiz in the air of a bullet but Sofia was sure, she heard somebody loading his gun. She had her gun out, tried to locate the other person.   
Nothing.  
Only silence.   
“LVPD, make yourself visible!”   
Nothing. It was quiet like it was before.   
“Are you alright?” She asked Sara.  
“I’ll be better if you go off me.”  
“Sorry.” Sofia got off Sara, stayed close to the box while her eyes tried to search for the person with the gun.   
“You tried to shield me, it’s your job.” Sara sat up. She had heard the same like the detective. Somewhere somebody had loaded a gun. She didn’t hear this person fire it, but she was sure, there was somebody.   
“I need to call back-up.”  
“Tell them not to walk on the left and not to destroy any evidence.”  
“Sara, our security…”  
“You get a dozen of elephant officers inside, I can go home and there’s no need to come back because the scene will be contaminated.”  
Sofia sighed. She knew Sara was right but she couldn’t let this person get away.  
“Possible suspect on the run, control the area around the Silver Mine. He must leave it somewhere.” She said in her cell phone and got her attention back to Sara. “I’ll keep the officers out, let them secure all possible exits. You know I’d prefer to get you out here, have the whole place searched and let you go on after it. Yes, evidence will be destroyed but your life is worth more than a blood splatter.”  
“People got sent to prison for a single blood splatter.”  
“We’re not looking for blood of the perpetrator, we’re looking for blood of the vic to find the primary crime scene.”  
“We?” Sara asked slightly amused.  
“I’ll stay with you. At least you’ve your vest on.”  
“Yeah.” Sara was thankful to wear her bullet proof vest, it has caught some of the pressure when Sofia got her down. It was painful, Sara was sure, she got some bruises but it could have been worse without the vest.   
“No whiz, no footsteps, noise at all. Under different circumstances I’d say, it was our imagination that heard the loading of a gun.”  
“We both heard it, Sara. It was real.” Sofia tried to see something with her flashlight. All she saw was the Mexican scene, it looked like a few hours ago when she was in here the last time. Nothing seemed to have changed.  
“Sofia!” Sara had used her flashlight to look around too. She pointed the light to a doll with a gun, sitting in a bucket.   
Sofia wanted to tell her it was a doll but what if somebody left the gun with a doll? It looked like it belonged there. Carefully the detective walked to the doll to get a closer look at the gun.   
“It’s not real.”  
“It was only an idea.”  
“I’ll check the other dolls with guns. If anybody was here and left, it would be smart to leave the gun here. You can tell the police you were maintaining when they asked, they find a gun on you, you’ll be a suspect.”  
“I’ll go on with the spray.”   
“Don’t walk too far alone.”  
“By the time I’m done with this area you’ve checked the whole ride for real weapons.”  
“You’re not that slow, Sara.”  
“Maybe you’re that fast.” Sara smiled and got her gear back.   
She hadn’t made another five yards when Sofia called out her name.   
“Sara.”  
“Yes?” The brunette turned and saw the blonde pointing up. On a bridge a doll with a gun was sitting. The gun pointed in the direction the wagons came from.   
“Got a ladder?”  
“No.”  
“I’ll get one, this guy has a gun pointing towards the wagons.”  
“If the killer was up there, somebody had seen him. And the gun doesn’t look like somebody threw it up, it’s placed.”  
“Exactly. How handy if the doll kills the target while you’re far away.”  
“You think the doll shot…it’s possible, a mechanic hand, pulls the trigger. With a camera on the doll you see when your target comes along. All you have to do is to prepare a doll, push a button and you’ve your target dead and have a alibi because you were far away.”  
“I see we think the same direction. I’ll be back in a minute, try to stay out of the line of fire.”  
“You won’t jump at me again?”  
“I will but I’m afraid it’s too painful to do it all the time.”  
“Yeah I’ll have some bruises.”  
“Better safe than sorry.”  
“I feel sorry and so should you.”  
“For hurting you, yes. For trying to safe your life, no.”  
Sofia left and Sara took another look up to the doll. If that was really the murder weapon she could do another two yards top and had to stop then. How far was she away from the place people got in and out of the wagons? Two hundred yards? She got her cell phone out.  
“Archi, when the primary crime scene was two hundred yards away from the place go in and out of the wagons, will our wagon still the in the area your computer had told you?”  
“Give me a second, Sara.” She heard him working on the task board. With the distance they could find out the exactly TOD.  
“Yes, that fits in perfectly. You found the primary crime scene?”  
“I’m not absolutely sure, I’ll let you know when I’ve the evidence I need.” She stepped a little bit more to the left. Usually when the gun aimed to the one on the right in wagon, she was safe on the footpath but like Sofia said, it was better to be safe than sorry.   
Carefully she sprayed the area and really, there was a tiny glowing spot. One single drop, like on the shirt of the girl. Sara took a few photos.  
“Got a ladder.” Sofia was back.  
“Got a splatter.”   
“First the gun then the scene?”  
“Yes, supervisor.”  
“You’re the CSI I’m only a serving detective. If you want you can do this alone.”  
“No, you’re quite handy.” Sara grinned and walked to Sofia. They got the ladder on the bridge and tried if it was steady.  
“It should hold, shouldn’t it?”  
“It’s wood, it will hold you.”  
“Me? You’re the CSI. I’ll hold the ladder for you.”  
“Great.” Sara grumbled. She wouldn’t mind Sofia climbing up and getting the gun. Step by step she climbed up the ladder until she was on the same height like the doll.   
“That’s a real gun. Or a toy gun that looks like a real one. All the others don’t look real, this one does. We need the doll down and the bridge in the lab.”  
“The owner will love you.”  
“It’s not my job to be loved by people. I won’t remove the gun in case there’s a mechanism connected.” She came back down.   
“The doll, the bridge, what else do you want?”  
“The wagon he died in and a huge sundae covered with fruits.”  
“I’ll deliver the sundae later to your place, the wagon has to go to the lab.” Sofia smirked.   
“I prefer the sundae at my place and not in the lab. Too many thieves around….Gil?” She had her cell on her ear. “We found a weapon and there’s blood around that area. Odds are good we found the murder weapon. Problem is, it’s connected to a doll, that sits on a bridge. I need help and a truck or something that can get all these things in the lab. Plus the wagon I still need to find.”  
“I’ll be there with some help.”  
“Thanks.”  
“Want to go on with looking for the wagon or do you want to stay here?” Sofia asked.  
“Well, we have no evidence anybody is or was around but I want to stay with the crime scene. Nobody will steal the wagon but you never know who’s around and wants to get the gun or the doll.”  
“Your personal bodyguard will stay with you.”  
“Of course will my gun stay with me. What about you, Rambo?”  
“Funny CSI.” Sofia sat in a wagon. After a few seconds Sara joined her. There was no reason to stand around. She couldn’t do anything with the doll, gun or bridge and the wooden board with the blood splatter had to be cut out.  
“It has a silencer.”  
“Huh?” Sofia looked confused. Her thoughts were far, far away, Sara’s sentence got her out of her thoughts.   
“The gun has a silencer. I doubt a Mexican bandito two hundred years ago had a silencer on his gun.”  
“I wouldn’t bet on that. Why are the banditos always the Mexicans? I’m sure there were at least the same amount of Caucasian bandits around, but everybody blames the Hispanics.”  
“White arrogance?”  
“WASP.”  
“That was the same. Only white people are good, as a blonde with blue eyes you’re perfect.”  
“Can’t find anything wrong with brunettes with brown eyes.” Sofia grinned.   
“They’re alright but the blondes with the blue eyes are the perfect people.”  
“That’s sick. Wasn’t Billy the kid blond?”  
“He had blue eyes I don’t remember his hair color.”  
“So why are people with blue eyes not bad people?”  
“Because then you wouldn’t be a detective, detective. You’d be a bandito in prison.”  
“Not the place I want to be.”  
“I think this fun ride is an homage to all Mexican people who were forced to work in mines. At least I understand it like that.”  
“Drunk, gambling, shooting, fighting against the army in a fort? They’re the bad boys again.”  
“I didn’t know you’re into human rights.”  
“I’m not an active member or so of a group, I was just wondering. Seeing these scenes the last two nights made me think a bit. White people who killed other people become a hero, like Billy the kid, all the others are evil.”  
“Our society likes to make people to hero. They’re the hero of a day, get some fans, they keep on admiring the guy but the rest forgets everything. And people tempt to see only the things they like in other people. You made the decision you like somebody, everything this person does you’ll see much more positive than things other people do.”  
“Is that why everything I did when we worked together in the lab was wrong?”  
“I never said that.”  
“You thought that.”  
“I wasn’t sure if you weren’t on our shift to check on Grissom and tell Ecklie if he made any mistakes.”  
“Ecklie demoted me, why should I be his spy?”  
“To get your old job back?”  
“That’s cheap.”  
“Happens all the time.”  
“You thought I’d do that?”  
“I didn’t know, I didn’t want to risk something. Now I know I was wrong and I’m sorry for that.”  
“Were you jealous because you thought I was interested in Grissom?”  
“Grissom and me are not together.”  
“I didn’t say that but you don’t have to answer the question.”  
“We’re not in court, I don’t have to answer anything.”  
“True.”

After another fourteen hours of work and a sleep of around six hours Sofia was back on her feet again. She had two more hours before she had to be back at the department – if nobody called her in early.   
With a cool bag in her hand she rang a door bell. A bell she had never rang before.   
The door wasn’t opened by the person she expected, which got her confused for a second. Did she ring the wrong bell? How could it be to ring the wrong door bell and end up with a person you know. Or at least knew the name of.  
“Detective Curtis, what a nice surprise. I didn’t know you would come along.”  
“I’m…”  
“Jules? Did you get the door? I’m right there.” That was the voice of the person she wanted to see.   
“Come on in, detective.”  
“I don’t want to…”  
“You came here for a reason, a cooled reason.” Doctor Weinberg pointed to Sofia’s cool bag with a smile. She was in short jeans and a top, not looking like she was on duty.  
“Yes I…”  
“Here I am, who is…Sofia!?!” Sara’s eyes were full of surprise. Surprise and some panic and disbelieve.  
“I wanted to bring you the sundae.” Sofia wished she had never made the decision to come here. What had gotten into her head to make the decision to visit Sara Sidle, the person with the highest denegation for sharing private time and private life with somebody else? She must have lost her mind. In that case it was good that doctor Weinberg was here, she could bring Sofia to a psychiatric hospital.   
“The sundae?”  
“The wagon and the sundae? I told you I’ll bring it to you.”  
“I never thought you meant it.”  
“Look at the two of you, standing there like school girls. Tell the detective to come in, I’ll leave the two of you alone.”  
“There’s no reason why you…” Sofia started but the doctor stopped her with a simple wave.   
“I was on my way out anyway. I’ll call you tomorrow, Sara. Stay safe and don’t work too much again. Same for you, detective.”  
“Thanks doc.”  
“Say hello to DD.”  
“I will. Bye.” The doctor left them and closed the door behind. For a second Sara and Sofia stood in the hallway, not sure what to do or say next.   
“I’m sorry for interrupting something.” Sofia mumbled.   
“You didn’t interrupt anything, Jules was on her way home. I’m just puzzled. You really have a sundae in your cool bag?”  
“Two.”  
“I think we should eat them before they’re nothing more than a sauce.”  
“A sauce with fruits.”  
“Sounds good to me.” Sara made a sign to Sofia to follow her. The tension had fallen of the brunette a little bit, but she was still not relaxed.   
“Have a seat on the balcony I’ll get us some spoons. Do we need anything else?”  
“No, it’s all here.”   
“Okay.”  
Sofia walked through the living room, trying not to look too obvious around. She had imagined Sara’s place like a geek house, plain, no fuzz, filled with books, kind of dark. What she found was the complete opposite. Cozy furniture, a couch in blue with bright light green and orange cushions, photos of landscapes, a dart board. There were books, books shelves but they were in pine wood, made the room brighter and white stone floor added it’s part to this bright and welcoming place.   
The big plants in the living were outnumbered and outbid by the plants on the balcony. Palms, bushes and something that looked like bamboos made the balcony a save haven, where you had not to fear the curious eyes of neighbors. It was a little garden on a five by ten area. The colorful wooden chairs and the rainbow colored wooden table gave the place some color.   
“Take a seat. Do you need the sunshade?” Sara was back with two spoons.   
“No, there’s barely any sun on the balcony.” A big orange-green awning kept most of the sun away.   
“It gets pretty hot here in the afternoon.”  
“I think so.” The balcony faced the south, Sara had a sunny place for most time of the day, Sofia reckoned. She opened her cool bag and was pleased that the sundae looked almost like it had looked five minutes ago when she got it in the bag.  
“Covered with fruits.” It was impossible to see the ice cream under the fruits of Sara’s sundae. On the contrary Sofia’s sundae was covered with chocolate sauce and cookies.   
“Somebody eats healthy today.” Sara grinned.   
“I leave that to you, I’ll eat unhealthy and will walk around the whole night with a wide chocolate grin.”  
“A brown face.”  
“I think I can manage to eat my sundae without having half of it in my face.”  
“If not you’re free to use the bathroom to clean yourself up.”  
“Thanks.”   
They dunked their spoons in the sauce and fruits and ate quiet for a minute or so. The ice cream was soft, but not too soft. As soon as it hit the tongue it became a cold flavored milk river that put a smile on both women’s faces.   
“She’s a friend.” Sara said out of the blue.  
“Huh?” Sofia wasn’t sure if she got the thoughts of the brunette, didn’t want to risk anything by guessing.   
“Jules. Doctor Weinberg.”  
“I thought so.”  
“She’s a good psychologist.”  
“Tell me if it’s not my business, is she your psychologist? I know she works for the department since a year to two and I know Ecklie made you go to therapy because he can’t handle you.”  
“Nice of saying I lose my temper too often. He can’t handle me, I need to tell him the next time. Jules works with the department since five years, she was my therapist three years ago, that’s how we met. When it was clear our relationship wasn’t professional anymore I went to somebody else and we became friends. Some call it a malpractice because she was my psychologist and didn’t stop our relationship developing in another direction, I think, she did nothing wrong. Find out you found a friend is nothing bad, we stopped the professional thing, I got my therapy hours with somebody else, Ecklie was happy and I had a new friend.”  
“You didn’t go to her because you wanted psychological help, you went to her because your boss told you to go there. I think there’s a difference between going somewhere because you have to go there and going somewhere because you need it.”  
“You think I didn’t need to learn to keep my temper?” Sara grinned.   
“I think I don’t want to answer that question.” Sofia shot back with a smirk.   
“Fair enough.”  
“Why do you tell me about your relationship to doc Weinberg? It’s none of my business who you meet in your condo.”  
“We work together, you meet the psychologist of our current case in my condo, makes you wonder what she’s doing here and why I didn’t mention that I know her.”  
“That the two of you have more than a professional relationship was obvious.”  
Not only these words but also the way Sofia said them, like she was talking about the weather, made Sara stop eating her ice cream.   
“Why?”  
“She called you by your first name. You wouldn’t allow that somebody you haven’t met before, you don’t like. Don’t look so surprised, I’m a detective and I’m worth my money sometimes.”  
“Most times.”  
“Thanks. Did she show you how to act kind today?”  
“Bitch.”  
“She didn’t.” Sofia grinned.   
“No matter what I do I’ll never come close to your sundae. I can’t believe you really came along with one.”  
“I keep my promises. See it as making up for the bruises I gave you by jumping on you.”  
“You did your job, you protected your CSI.”  
“She wasn’t in danger.”  
“We didn’t know that at that time.”  
“So I’m excused? Good to know. Am I allowed to ask a professional question about the doc?”  
“You’ll find out when you get an answer or not.”  
“Working with the children, talking to the parents, can’t she give us a profile of the killer?”  
“She told you she’s not a profiler.”  
“She’s a shrink, she’s in other people’s head. Can she get in the head of the killer when she sees the evidence, talks to witnesses?”  
“I’m not a psychologist, I’ve no idea what you need to get in somebody’s head. Fact is, she can’t give you an official profile on the killer, it’s not her job. What do you think will the Sheriff do if she gives you a profile, you start looking for this person, she was wrong and the real killer goes on killing?”  
“A profile could be a help, it doesn’t have to be an officially one.” Sofia cocked her head. “She’s a friend of you, can’t you talk her into giving you an unofficially profile?”  
“Ask her yourself, she’s in the department tonight.”  
“You won’t do that?”  
“I won’t ask for a personal favor in a job related case, no.”  
“Okay, I’ll ask her. One more question and then I’m done with that topic: if she gives me a profile, would you – not as her friend but as somebody who had worked with her – believe in her profile?”  
“She’s a great psychologist.” Sara repeated. She wouldn’t agree or disagree on that question. It wasn’t Jules’ job to make a profile on somebody. But being able to understand why people do certain things, make it visible for people what they do and why they do it, she would trust in what her friend says about the killer. 

„The blood splatter you found on the wooden board is consistent with the blood of the victim, it’s the same DNA.” Wendy gave Sara a sheet of paper. “Same for the wagon.”   
“We know the crime scene, we know the wagon, we have the murder weapon, all we need is the killer.”  
“Can’t give you his or her identity yet. Sorry.” Wendy smiled and left.  
Sara sighed. It could be so easy. Why wasn’t there an address with every evidence they found? This gun was dropped X, this knife was left by Y.  
She had to go to ballistics, maybe Bobby could help her. There had been no prints on the weapon, no registration number and no bullets inside. Sara had searched the area where Sofia and she had found the gun, but there was no bullet. The gun was revolver, eight shots. Could seven people be so lucky that the bullet missed them? She had to go back and check on the other wagons if there were bullets holes. She hadn’t seen any when she had a look the wagons before. It was possible there had been only one bullet in the revolver.   
“The bullet in the head of the vic is from the gun you found.” Greg came in the room.  
“You saw Bobby?”  
“Yeah I met him because I want to take a closer look at the gun. A revolver, like in a wild west movie. Usually you don’t get silencer for them.”  
“It doesn’t look self-made.”  
“It’s custom made, I think. I looked this kind of revolver up, you can’t get a silencer in the internet or a gun shop for it so I asked around and found out, if you have the right friends they make a silencer for your revolver. All you have to do is pay them good.”  
“You found a friend like that?”  
“Maybe.”  
“Maybe?” She smirked.   
“I’m not sure I’ve an address I want to go to. But first I want to have another look at the revolver. Your report said, there are no other bullets…”  
“No. I checked all wagons, well I wasn’t looking for bullets at that time but if there had been some, I should have seen them. I’ll have another look at the wagons later. Why?”  
“What if the vic was random?”  
“Random?”  
“Yeah, so far they haven’t found a cam in the doll, the perpetrator couldn’t know when the victim’s wagon came along, not without being there. The finger of the doll pulled the trigger, we found gunshot residue on it and a little clock in the pocket of his jacket. If the clock sets off the finger of the doll, it shot the vic while the perpetrator wasn’t around. Means unless the killer could know when the vic was there exactly, it was a random killing.”  
“Okay, let’s stick with a random killing.” Sara sat on the table. “One bullet in the revolver, a timer. Of what does this remind you?”  
“Russian roulette.”  
“Exactly.”   
“Why kill somebody in a fun ride? A random person?”  
“The park is closed, bad publicity, the owner loses a lot of money.”  
“You think the owner knows the killer?”  
“I don’t know, it was an idea.”  
“Want to help me with the gun and the timer? After that we can go together to a ‘friend’ who can help us with silencer for old fashioned revolver.”  
“Okay. We might find a fingerprint on the timer or the silencer.” What meant they had to dusk every piece to get a print. That would keep them busy for the rest of the night. 

“This sick bastard must haven worn gloves all the time.” Greg swore.   
“Smart bastard.”  
“I hate it when they’re smart. Plain stupid is much more fun. Like this guy who tried to rob a bank last week and knocked himself out. I had to laugh so damn hard when I saw the surveillance video. I watched it again and again, it got funnier with every time I played it. That’s a video for ‘America’s most stupid criminals” I reckon. Do you think we send it in and win some money? We could be famous too.”  
“If you really do that I hope you make enough money so you won’t mind that Ecklie will fire you.” Sara laughed.   
“I doubt that. I’ll lose my apartment, can I move in with you? You’ve a spare room.”  
“You used it a few times.”  
“Yeah, I feel comfortable in it. You can invite me to stay there more often.”  
“Want to stay there Saturday night?”  
“Does that mean I’ve to ask for a night off?”  
“Yes. Let’s go out and dance. We deserve a break after we’ve closed this case.”  
“We’ll close it until Saturday?”  
“Of course we will.” Sara blinked at him. “We’re great. My brain and your ‘friend’ will make us close the case soon.”  
“Are you kidding me?”  
“Never.”  
“Liar.” He put the piece of the timer away he was dusting and pulled Sara in his arms.   
“Greg, let go or I’ll hurt you.”  
“You won’t do that, don’t waste time on pretending.”  
“Don’t dare me.”  
“We deserve a break. Want some coffee?”  
“Your coffee or lab coffee?”  
“My coffee of course. I don’t want to poison you.” He chuckled.   
“Sounds good.”   
“I’ll be back soon.” Before she could do anything he kissed her cheek and walked away. She was even too puzzled to slap him. Her young friend got cheeky. But could she be mad with him? No, she loved him too much. Greg was one of the main reasons why she was still working in Vegas. She got an offer half a year ago, her old boss wanted her back in San Francisco. For a week or so she was thinking about it, considering the ups and downs for both cities until she made the decision she wanted to stay in Vegas. And Greg was a very big point for Vegas.   
“Black, strong, hot, the way you like it.” Greg put a mug with steaming coffee in front of Sara.  
“I like a lot of things strong and hot.”  
“You can have my strong arms around you while we have a hot dance Saturday night.”  
“In your dreams.”  
“In my dreams…there are other things than dancing. Will Jules join us?” Unlike Sofia Greg knew Jules and knew that she and Sara were friends. He went out with both women frequently when they had nights off together.   
“I’ll ask her.”  
“DD?”  
“I think that will depend on if they want to stay the weekend together or not. You know their relationship, it’s complicated for ordinary people.”  
“It’s a mess.” Greg laughed.   
“And we need to find a hot date for you, Greggo.”  
“You?”  
“Well, I’ll be your date, yes. But I’ll be only a dance date, nothing more. And offer you a room for the night; or the morning.”  
“Unfortunately you’re not talking about your room.”  
“No.”  
“One day I’ll make it to your room. When you’re away on holidays, I take care of your place and will use the time to sleep in your bed. Then I can say I slept in Sara Sidle’s bed.”  
“If that’s what you really want you can sleep there and I sleep in the guest room.”  
“What an offer.”  
“Are you flirting or working?” Sofia leant on the door frame.  
“Are you a detective or a stalker?” Sara shot back.  
“I was looking for you because of the case we’re working on. Maybe you remember the shot man in the wagon. Only if your mind is not too busy with coffee and getting Greg in your bed.”  
“She’s jealous.” Greg grinned.  
“Yeah I think so. I wonder if it’s because of the coffee or the bed. What do you think?”  
“Both.”  
“Good guess.”  
“I’m not interested in Sara’s bed.”  
“I’m also more interested in Sara but if I can’t have her, I take her bed. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”  
“The case?” Sofia sighed.  
“Coffee?” Greg offered.  
“Yes, please.”  
“I’ll get you some.” He blinked at Sara and left the room.   
“What’s wrong with you? Your mood isn’t the best, it was better with the sundae.” Sara observed the detective.  
“We’ve nothing that leads us to the killer, the Sheriff gets nervous, the owner of the park demands answers and even more that we open his park again. The Sheriff told him it can be open from six this morning, the Silver Mine will be closed but I can’t promise you for how long.”  
“I want to go there, we found only the bullet in the head of the vic, Greg and me have the theory the killer played a kind of Russian roulette. On bullet in, the timer let the doll shoot one time per hour and whoever comes along when the bullet is in the gun, is the lucky dead guy.”  
“It could have been a child.”  
“Yes.”  
“That is nothing the Sheriff wants to hear.”  
“In that case I shouldn’t say what I’ve on my mind.”  
“Tell me.”  
“What if the killer has hidden more than one gun?”  
“I regret that I told you to ask me.” Sofia buried her face in her hands. “I need to tell the Sheriff. I mean, we don’t know if that’s the case but it could be. Nobody checked on the other rides. Shit, four hours before they want to open it.”  
“They maintained the other rides?”  
“Yes.”  
“If it was a revolver again, there isn’t any danger anymore, eight hours are over.”  
“If he used a different timer, there could be still a danger.” Greg came back, gave Sofia her coffee and sat back next to Sara. He had heard the last sentences. “Like one gun per day. We don’t know how sick this bastard is.”  
“Thanks Greg; for the coffee and destroying my life. Can you talk to Grissom about this and I call the Sheriff. If he sticks to a re-opening at six this morning, it’s kind of his responsibility if something happens and we all told him it’s too early.”  
“Tell Brass and if he thinks there might be a danger he has to call the Sheriff.” Sara suggest with a smile.  
“Good idea! I’ll do that right away. I’ll take the coffee with me, thanks Greg.” Sofia left, her cell phone in one hand, the coffee mug in the other.  
“More guns? I’ve to say I’m with Sofia, I don’t like this idea.” Greg said.  
“Neither do I. I’ll call Grissom and tell him of this. Maybe he thought of that himself and has called the Sheriff already.” Sara hoped it was like that. She didn’t want to be the one who told the Sheriff there was a problem. 

An hour later Sara was walking through a tunnel of horror. After hearing the concern of Grissom and Brass about more guns hidden in the park the Sheriff ordered a huge search. With police academy, officers, CSI and employees of the park they searched every ride.   
All lights were turned on, it was bright inside the tunnel of horror like they were out on a sunny day. Yard for yard they walked their way, looking under the train tracks, up to the ceiling and under costumes.   
“If you find something you’ll be the hero of the day.” Sofia was with Sara.   
“Three hours for half a mile. We need to check every costume, every angle of the room, every corner.”  
“Tell me about it.” Sofia lifted a sheet of a ghost. Instead a body nothing was under the sheet. A huge plastic ball was the head, the sheet hung down straight.   
“This is not scary.”  
“You’re a detective you’re not suppose to be scared in tunnel of horror.”  
“Do you think a child is scared?”  
“Maybe.” She had never been to a tunnel of horror as a child, she had no idea if this was scary for children. She supposes so, otherwise there was no reason to have a place like this.   
“You know checking the park for guns isn’t make it safe.” Sara said.   
“Do I want to hear what you say now? Or will it give me a bigger headache?”  
“It will give you a bigger headache.”  
“I won’t listen.” Sofia put her hands over her ears.   
“There’s the possibility…”  
“Lalala.” Sofia started to sing, trying harder not to listen what Sara was saying.   
“…cute, do you always close your eyes and believe that when you can’t see anybody nobody can see you?”  
“I do.” Sofia grinned.  
“Thought so.”  
“There’s the possibility that what, Sara?” Sofia got her hands away from her ears, checking on something that looked like a mix between a wolf, a hog and a tiger.   
“Bombs. A little bit of TNT under the train tracks is enough to break them. Something like this can cause a lot of damage at the roller coaster. Or a fun ride that gets you up in the air.”  
“We can’t rebuild the whole theme park, Sara.”  
“I didn’t say that.”  
“No, you didn’t. You make me feel scared and let me worry what will happen.”  
“We need to find the killer.”  
“Even if we find him or her, what if he or she doesn’t want to tell us if there’re more deadly surprises in the park? You get death penalty, you don’t care if they give it to you once or twice.”  
“Can you say something I like to hear?”  
“About the case? Greg and me will see a guy who owns a gun shop and might help us out with the silencer for the revolver. As soon as we’re out of here.”  
“What time will you be off duty?”  
“Why? Want to bring me another sundae?”  
“Maybe. No, I called doctor Weinberg.” Sofia didn’t want to mention that Sara and the doctor were friends as long as there might be people around, whose business wasn’t with whom Sara was friends with. “She could meet us before she goes to her office.”  
“Us?”  
“Yes.”  
“Can’t promise a time. Can we switch it to dinner if you want to have me there. You can meet her alone, she won’t bite.”  
“Never trust a shrink. And I think she can give us a better profile when you give her the heads up with the evidence, you know more about it than I do.”  
“Alright, dinner it is. But not at the department, please.” Sara didn’t want to meet Jules in the department; not more often than she had to. It wasn’t necessary that more people knew she and the psychologist were friends, it was nobody’s business. Probably that sounded ridiculous to most people but Sara preferred to have a clear line between job and private life.   
“Diner?”  
“You don’t get a decent sundae there and you can’t bring one there and you do own me a good one not a cheap one. Something like yesterday at least.” Sara smirked.   
“Do I? Do you want to have it on your balcony again?” Sofia asked with a grin.   
“Why not, I’ll get Jules to bring some food, my fridge is empty.”  
“That’s a surprise.”  
“Is it?”  
“Yeah. I mean your whole place surprised me, it was the opposite of what I had expected. After seeing your place I thought your fridge must be well stocked, it looked like you’re a good housewife.”  
“I’ve a great cleaner.”  
“Oh.”  
“I should tell her to do the shopping as well.”  
“Sounds more like you live in a hotel.”  
“Would be nice to have all the service. No me cleaner comes once a week for two hours, dusting, sweeping the floor, cleaning the windows, whatever needs to be done. We pull so much overtime, there’s no time to spend the money for hobbies, so I can spend it on a cleaner.” Sara lifted a box that looked like it was wooden but was nothing more than cardboard. So far there was no gun and no other weapon around. 

“Tell me again how you got this address.” Sara furrowed her brows. Where the hell was Greg taking her? They were in one of the bad areas of Vegas, in a little side street and she didn’t feel safe, no matter how often she made sure her gun was by her side.  
“A source.”  
“You’re not a police officer, you’re not suppose to have sources.”  
“Call me talented I have them.”  
“I’d prefer to know why your source can’t come to us.”  
“Because we want something from him.”  
“And why can’t we take a few officers with us? To be safe in this area.”  
“Because he won’t talk to us when police is around. It was hard enough to get his okay for you.”  
“I’ll feel honored later. At the moment I wish you had taken Sofia with you. She could pretend to be a CSI, she had been one and she’s a detective, she can shoot better than we can. It’s her job to protect.”  
“I’ll protect you.”  
“Great that’s like facing a Pit Pull with a Retriever by your side.”  
“Thanks Sara, you know how to make friends feel good.”  
“I know.” She smiled and took his hand to hold onto it. Walking around hand in hand with Greg didn’t feel strange anymore. It had been the first time, for both of them. One day they were beyond that point and actually they walked around like this quite often. Right now it felt good to have Greg so close to her, to feel him, it made her feel safer. They would take care of each other.   
“I look forward to go out with you on Saturday.” She said. “It has been a while since we were out the last time.”  
“I hope we get the night off. If not we’ll find something else to replace it.”  
“A replacement for a night out with you and the others? Impossible.”  
“Yeah, in case DD won’t join us I’ll be surrounded by two beautiful women.”  
“You’ll be surrounded by beautiful women anyway.”  
“Double Choc?”  
“I think so.” The ‘Double Choc’ was their favorite club, they usually went to.   
“Sounds perfect for me.” He smiled, pulled her closer in his arms when they were about to walk next to a group of teenagers. They didn’t pay any attention to them but Greg was relieved to see the shop they had as their destination.   
The door was open but the shop was empty. While Sara took a look around, Greg walked to the counter. They were on time, where was his informant?   
“Mac?”  
“I’m not here!”  
“Alright. Then my friend and me will have a closer look at your things, you know we’re still on duty…”  
“Will ya give me a second, damn it.”  
“Time’s ticking.”   
“Screw ya.”  
“I leave that to somebody else. I’m not an old fat ugly guy I get somebody between the sheets without paying a fortune.”  
Sara cocked a brow. Was that her Greg? What happened to her puppy? What happened to her young friend, who flushed so easily. These words weren’t the word people would recognize as Greg’s words. Seems like all the nights she took him out to the clubs had paid off. Greg became cheeky and was able to win a word fight.   
A man beyond the sixty came out of a little room on the left. He was bold, had no teeth left what Sara saw on the first sight and his face was a dirty as his shirt.   
“What do ya want?”  
“A silencer for a revolver, approximately thirty years old.”  
“Don’t know what ya mean.”  
“A revolver from the eighties.”   
“Don’t have it.”  
“Get your glasses.” Sara said from behind and got Mac’s attention.  
“Who’s that? Ya little girlfriend or the one ya’ve in bed without paying? Can I have her for a Benjamin?”  
“You come close to me and I shoot you with your revolver you don’t have.” She got the revolver out of un unlocked glass cabinet. “Looks like it was used recently, just like the revolver we’re interested in…maybe this is the revolver we’re talking about.”  
“What the hell are ya talking about? This revolver hasn’t been fired in decades.”  
“Want me to check that and prove you wrong?”  
“What?”  
“You know, lying to a CSI, holding from information, helping a killer to shoot an innocent man…”  
“Whoa, stop it right there, show me that thing in ya hands, will ya?”  
Sara walked to the counter and handed him the revolver. With narrowed eyes Mac looked at it, mumbled something nobody could understand.   
“Can’t do it.”  
“You can’t do what?”  
“Can’t make ya a silencer for that. Well, I can but…” He stopped, looked again, mumbled and looked at them.  
“But what?” Greg asked.   
“I assume ya want something that looks good on it, that looks like it belongs to it.”  
“You ask for our wishes? A silencer you can pull down on a thin wire so that the revolver looks like it never had a silencer.” There had been no silencer on the revolver, they needed a way to get the silencer off without having the killer climbing up the bridge. Sara needed to find another way to get the silencer away.  
“Impossible.”  
“Impossible or only very expensive?” She countered.   
“She really your girlfriend?”  
“I won’t hold her back if you make her angry and she gets angry easily. I’ll leave the shop as soon as she jumps at you, I had enough blood for the night.”  
“When I say impossible it means it’s expensive. Nothing is impossible for the right amount of money. Ya have a bullet of the revolver you’re interested in?”  
“Yes.” Sara eyed him, evil looking, not willing to give him a chance to feel safe.   
“Ya looked at it?”  
“No.”  
“Go it with you?”  
“Why do you want to know?”  
“I wanna know if it looked like an ordinary bullet from a weapon or if the bullet looked slightly different.”  
“They all don’t look like any bullet when a silencer is used.”  
“I know, Sweat heart, the thing is, I understand ya have a revolver but don’t see a silencer. There’s a guy who builds ya – for a lot of money – a silencer in ya gun, no matter what kind of gun. Takes some time, takes a lot of money but it works.”  
“We checked every little piece of the revolver, there was no silencer inside. It looked exactly like a revolver is suppose to look.”  
“Ya killer removed the silencer and took it with him?”  
“Not likely.”  
“There’s not such a thing like a silencer on a wire ya can pull off.”  
“A lot of money?”  
“Tell me what ya want.”  
“I want a silencer I can pull off from a gun that’s about three yards above me. Quite good connected to a doll.”  
“Why should a doll hold a gun?”  
“Because that way and with the help of a timer you can be far, far away when the victim gets shot.”  
“Ya let a gun shoot somebody? With a timer? Sounds like a lot of trouble to go through. Which important animal got shot?”  
“He wasn’t a famous guy, an ordinary man.”  
“Random killing…wait the theme park, I heard on the news somebody got shot there. Are ya here because of that?”  
“And if we were?”  
“Maybe it wasn’t about the guy but about the owner.”  
“We considered that. But we still want a silencer.”  
“Why?”  
“We doubt a real shot was overheard by all the people around.”  
“Is it possible that the killer took the silencer away?” Sara had to admit, this man didn’t look as smart as he was. He could think like a cop, he asked good questions.   
“No. There were constantly people around, nobody saw anybody climbing up a ladder to remover a silencer.”  
“Understand.” He scratched his unshaved chin. “Ya cut the bullet?”  
“Cut?”  
“Yeah. For also a lot of money ya get a special bullet. Looks like an ordinary bullet but inside is a stuff that makes the bullet – not completely silence – but quieter.”  
“Can you make that?”  
“Lady, I can make ya a silencer for this baby if ya have a lot of time and money but I can’t make these bullets.”  
“Who can?”  
“Ya’re asking for a lot.”  
“Can you answer it?”  
“Can’t give ya details. All I know there’s a guy, called ‘Bala’ and he says he can do everything ya want with a bullet.”  
“Where do we find this guy?”  
“This, my lovely lady, is a thing I can’t tell ya. Usually ya make it clear ya’re looking for him, make even more clear that ya’re willing to pay a lot of money and he’ll find ya.”  
“I don’t have a lot of money. Does he live in Vegas?”  
“Can’t tell ya.”  
“What a pity, that could help us.”  
“Can you find out?” Greg asked.  
“Boy…”  
“You find something for us and we forget all the things we better haven’t seen here. How does that sound for you?”  
“Blackmailing.”  
“I knew you’d appreciate a good deal.” Greg grinned. “Let me know when you have something. I take my girlfriend home, time to hit the sheets.”  
“Ya won’t let her here for me?”  
“One more sentence like this and the bullet in my gun meets what’s left of your balls.” Greg linked his hand with Sara’s. Time to go home, they had spent enough time here, Mac couldn’t help them anymore at the moment. 

“I hope I did everything right by bringing three sundaes.” Sofia smiled when Sara opened her the door.   
“Almost. Four would have been better.”  
“Are you that hungry?”   
“No, we’re four.”  
“Are we?”  
“Yes, come in.”   
It didn’t feel that strange anymore to be in Sara’s condo. Sofia wasn’t sure if something was changed, some people started to make a huge clean and tidy up when they knew people were coming along. It hasn’t been messy in Sara’s place, ordinary lived, Sofia would call and it looked the same today. Either the brunette had no time to set the cushions straight on her couch or she didn’t care about that. She lived here, why let it look like they were in a museum?  
“I made some space in the freezer, it might be better when we leave them in there until we’re done with the rest of the food.”  
“Rest of the food?” Sofia didn’t know she would get a whole dinner. She followed Sara in the spacious kitchen, that was – like the rest of the condo Sofia had seen – in a modern design. White was the basic color but everywhere were colorful things, that made the room look welcoming and friendly. The freezer, a combination with a fridge, was huge. Another surprise. If anybody had asked Sofia if she believed Sara was into cooking she had denied. For her Sara was a person who had some basics in her fridge, yogurt, salad a dressing and that’s it. The size of the freezer and fridge, together with the ice maker told her, Sara spend some time in her kitchen.   
How could she been so wrong?   
“Sure, it’s warm, we work hard, we need to eat. You can leave the cool bag with me, I’ll take care of the sundaes. Can you take the bowl out on the balcony?” She pointed to a bright light green bowl, that was closed with a lit.   
“Sure. Can I do anything else?”  
“Get yourself something to drink out of the fridge or let Jules make you a cocktail.”  
“I’ve to work.” Sofia smiled.   
“So do I she mixes them without alcohol.”  
“In that case I’ll give the cocktails a try. Thanks.” With the bowl Sofia left the kitchen and walked through the living room to the balcony. She wondered if the other rooms in the condo were in the same style than these two rooms she had seen so far. It was rude to ask for a tour through the house but Sofia had to admit, she was curious.   
Another surprise was waiting for her on the balcony. Person number four for their dinner was no stranger to her.  
“Greg.”  
“Hi Sofia, you look surprise.”  
“A little bit.”  
“Did you think you’re the only one from the department who spends some quality time with Sara?” He wore a Hawaiian shorts, no shoes and a Hawaiian shirt. He looked like he was on holiday and not on a work related meeting. The smoking barbeque behind him brought the holiday feeling out even more.   
“I knew you’re friendly, I didn’t know you were that close.”  
“He wants to be that close to her, but he isn’t.” Doctor Weinberg came on the balcony, having four cocktails on a tray.   
“Hello detective, care for a cocktail?”  
“I do. Thanks doc” Sofia took one of the cocktails.  
“You’re welcome.”  
“Doc? Detective? Girls, do me a favor and don’t make it sound like we’re in the department. I’m sure you’ll survive when you call each other Jules and Sofia.” Greg rolled his eyes and got his cocktail. There was no reason to stick to the titles, they met here for a dinner and a conversation, away from the department.   
“That’s fine with me. Jules.” The doctor offered her hand to Sofia.  
“Sofia.” The detective laughed.   
“Now that we’re cozy can one of you beauties get the cute brunette because our food is ready to be served.   
“I’ll get her, master of the barbeque.” Jules grinned.   
Sofia sat next to Greg on the table. Plates and cutlery was ordered nicely and the huge sunshade let them sit out of the still aggressive sunrays.   
“It’s nice to see you here, Sofia.” He removed his shades so that she could see his sparkling friendly eyes.   
“Is it?”  
“Yes. I hope that means your and Sara’s stupid fights are over. I know you went on better the last weeks, but I think, if the two of you give each other a chance, you might end up being friends.”  
“Why should we want that?” Sara asked coming out on the balcony, a bowl with chopped bread in her hands.   
“Because you’re not so bitchy like you always pretend to be, honey.”  
“I’m bitch enough to kick you off the balcony.”  
“No, you won’t. Jules won’t let you do that, will you, Jules?”  
“Let the puppy stay, Sara. He’s kind of right, you are not that bitchy. Most times you’re a really lovely woman, only when people annoy you, you turn into a bitch.”  
“I’ve the questionable talent to piss her off quite often.” Sofia smiled a bit. She and Sara had have a rough time at the beginning, the brunette had been bitchy often, but lately the blonde couldn’t complain about Sara. Whenever she got a snappy comment, she deserved it somehow.   
“You haven’t done that lately.”  
“Right. You didn’t snap at me for jumping on you.”  
“You jumped on Sara?” Greg asked.   
“Yes. We were alone in the Silver Mine, I thought she felt cold and need a hug.” Sofia laughed.   
Jules cocked a brow. “I like her, she’s got humor. So what did really happen? The killer can’t be back, I had heard of that.”  
“The timer of the gun.” Greg answered for Sofia. He made the connection fast after he had the picture of Sofia jumping on Sara out of his head. “The doll ‘loaded’ the gun, you thought somebody is around and tried to protect your CSI.” He let slip a steak on Sofia’s plate after he had given two schnitzel to Sara and Jules. Knowing Sara was a vegetarian Sofia concluded these schnitzels were made of tofu.   
“Absolutely right, Greg. We heard it, Sofia jumped, I’m bruised. But I forgive her because she wanted to safe my life. Can’t blame her for not noticing there was no danger because I too thought we were at risk.” Sara sent a smile at Sofia.  
“Does it hurt badly?”  
“It’s alright.”  
“No ribs involved?”  
“According to my personal doctor not.”  
“I’m not a physician but I think her ribs are all fine. She’ll get a bruise, the beginning is already there, we christening it ‘Sofia’ and it will give Sara’s body some color. She can work, can go to the gym and wash the dishes.”  
“A part of you will be with Sara for a while.” Greg chuckled. “Isn’t that sweet?”  
“I’d prefer to give something else to Sara than a bruise.”  
“Like what?”  
“A sundae, she likes them.”  
“Rumor is you brought some.”  
“Yes, unfortunately I didn’t know you’ll be here so I brought only three.”  
“That’s alright I’ll share mine with Sara, I love having her sit on my lap and feed her with ice cream.”  
“That happened only once and only because there were no free chairs and I was desperate for a refreshment.” Sara complained. Greg made it sound like she sat on his lap daily. They weren’t that close.   
“It could happen every day, all you need to do is tell me so.”  
“Forget it. Get somebody else on your lap, try the blonde next to you. Apparently blondes are easy to have.”  
“Prejudice. Nothing more than a prejudice. Don’t even try it, Greg, I’ll hurt you. You’ll have more than only a bruise.”  
“I’m not into blondes, I like brunette. But we can take the blonde with us on Saturday. After we have this cozy dinner together I think we can take her to the club with us. I’m sure we’ll find a few admires for her.”  
“You should ask her first if she wants to join us, Greg.” Jules said.   
“I don’t know if I have a night off.”  
“Except for Jules nobody knows, depends on the case. If you get a night off, do you want to come with us?”  
“To where?”  
“A nice club for some dancing. We’ll take care of you.”  
“Let me think of that, Greg. We’ll see how you behave the next days.”  
“Ouch. Want a sausage?”  
“Yes, thanks.”  
“We should come to the reason why we sit here.” Sara started.  
“We are already eating, Sara.”  
“I’m not talking about food, Greg. The case. We close it, the odds we have a night off are better. Jules, did Sofia talk you into profiling the killer?”  
“Yes.” Jules laughed. “Don’t make it sound like she asked for something illegal or unmoral. You all know I’m not a profiler, I talked to the girls, the parents, that’s it. Tell something more about the case, the evidence. I know about the timer and the doll.”  
“We checked all the rides this morning, no more guns were found, so far there’s no report on any incidents or deaths. What doesn’t mean we consider the theme park as safe. The killer thinks he got away with murder once, nothing will stop him from trying it a second time.”  
“So far we have no clues who he is.” Sara continued for Sofia. “All the evidence couldn’t give us any DNA or a fingerprint. There’re no videos of a man changing the doll, but the videos get overwritten every twelve hours. The thing is, in the revolver fit eight bullets, one was shot as far as we know, at six in the morning. The ride was closed from one to three, the video exchanged at the same time. If anybody has exchanged the doll for a duplication with the gun and the timer, it must have happened around that time.”  
“I talked to the men who checked the ride, according to them they’re always checking together, nobody is alone, everybody checks the work of the other for security reasons. None of them has seen anything; they say. The question is, could we’re dealing with two killer? Or one who paid, scared or whatever somebody to look away and forget? The odds are high the killer got the doll in the ride in that night, during the break, so I refuse to believe nobody saw him.”  
“And when he came in after the maintenance men left, he should be on video.” Sara took the last sip of her cocktail.   
“Maybe he was on video but because he is the man with the videos, he deleted the scenes with him.” It was the first time Greg joined the discussion.   
“There’s no video room, the screens with the videos of the ride are all at the place where you get in and out. The guys there have an eye on the people in the ride, can stop the ride when they have to. When they check on the ride, nobody is checking on the videos. You take off with your accomplice, exchange the doll, one gets the original doll out, the second deletes the video.”  
“When the killer is a loner, he had to do all that alone, is that possible?” Sara asked.   
“Depends. Your colleague won’t stick around the whole time, they’ll have a break. Wait until they go for a smoke, have the doll hidden somewhere, get it up on the bridge, hide the other one close to an emergency exit, go back and let the video restart. It takes three seconds to restart the video. Not impossible to do it alone.” Sofia said.   
“What does our new profile say before we start to build up possibilities.” Greg slipped a veggie burger on Jules’ plate.  
“You’re too cheeky for your age, Greggo. Besides that I think your killer is a loner, I doubt he had some help and I believe he works or worked in the theme park. Nobody noticed the new doll, whoever made it, knew how the old one looked like. Have you asked somebody if the new one looks exactly like the old one?”  
“Yes.” Sara nodded. “We showed it to the guys who are working at this ride. “They said, it’s the doll that belongs in there, we thought first, somebody might have smuggled it in, that there had been no doll on the bridge before. The workers say, it looks like their doll and asked if it’s possible that somebody just put the revolver and the timer on it.”  
“Which isn’t likely, there was no dust on the doll, the rest of the place is dusty.” Greg completed.   
“The revolver?”  
“A revolver from the eighties, you can buy them in some shops used. Sara and me went to see a source this morning, he said, it’s possible to get a silencer for the revolver, but because there was no time to get the silencer down without being seen, we don’t believe there had been a silencer. An ordinary shot is loud, we assume people realize a real shot between all the faked ones. The bullet looked like an ordinary bullet…it’s back in ballistic.”  
“Why?” Sofia asked surprised.   
“According to my source if you have a lot money you get a bullet that’s quieter than ordinary bullets and you don’t need a silencer. With all the noise around and a quieter bullet it is possible that people didn’t realized somebody got killed. It’s about the stuff the bullet is made of. Bobby will cut the bullet and check if it’s an ordinary bullet and my source lied or if we have a special bullet.”  
“Does your source also know who can make this wonder bullets?”  
“His name is Bala and you can’t find him, he finds you. You need a lot of money to make him interested in you, what means, our killer can’t be poor.”  
“And you didn’t bother to tell me earlier because…?” Sofia looked slightly annoyed at Greg. He had withhold information.  
“Because you were off duty, needed a sleep and I tell you now.”  
“I’m never off duty when I work a hot case.”  
“I respect private time and understand how important a sleep is. Calm down, I doubt you can find Bala in your computer with an address.”  
“Next time I want you to wake me up or tell at least somebody at the department about your new information.”  
“Give me the key to your condo and I wake you up, gently.”  
“Don’t play with me, boy.”  
“Ouch, you pissed the detective off.” Jules giggled. “I think I’ve heard enough for the first impression.”  
Sara knew that was only half of the truth. Jules said that to stop a discussion between Sofia and Greg, to avoid an argument. And it worked, both were more relaxed immediately what made Sara smile a bit. She knew her friend was a very good psychologist.   
“Your killer put a lot of time in this. I mean he got a doll that looks exactly like the one in the fun ride. He must have been a few times to the theme park to find the perfect place for his killing. He picked the fun ride with the oldest security system as far as I know. He picked a time when not too many people are around to exchange the dolls, he knows about the cameras and he has access to the videos. People don’t ask him what he is doing, so he must work there or must have made people believe he works there.   
The victim wasn’t important to him. It didn’t matter who got killed, the only thing that count is that somebody got killed and he was far away. I doubt he stuck around to see if he was successful. A closed theme park will be fast in the media. He could watch his work from his living room, sip a coffee, feel safe. Beside the victim who is affected most of this killing? The children? Were random, he couldn’t plan that. Employees? Nobody blames them, some of them might be suspects. Anybody worth getting all these attentions?” Jules looked at Sofia who shook her head.  
“No.” Petty thefts, parking and speeding tickets, nothing that gave them a hint of a murderer or violent person.   
“Then you’ve only the owner of the theme park left. He has to close the park, he loses money while you investigate the case.”  
“He didn’t get any calls or letters regarding the case. Nothing like ‘His death is your fault’ or ‘I told you, you’ll pay for it’. We’ve nothing that links him to the vic or the case.”  
“Anything of the family of the vic?”  
“He has no family. No parents, no spouse, no children, nothing. He was all by himself.” A very sad detail, Sofia thought. The man was dead, nobody cared. Nobody arranged a funeral, nobody said something nice about him, nobody would miss him. It was like he had never existed.   
“Did you check the employee list? Somebody got fired the last weeks? Asked the owner if he has any enemies?”  
“People come and go in a theme park, the money isn’t good, some people stay for a few weeks, leave and come back a month later. But I’ll have a closer look at the list and ask the owner if he fired somebody lately. Can’t be too long ago, otherwise the other worker could noticed he didn’t belong there.”  
“Just tell them you’re back, they know too, people come and go. Ask them if an old colleague had appeared in the last few days. He needed time to prepare to get the doll inside.”  
“The easiest way is to dress up like maintenance, tell the guys you’ve some spare tools, get your doll and leave it there until you need it.” Sara said.   
“A loner, who knows the theme park, knows the security and doesn’t make employees suspicious when he’s around. The vic wasn’t the target. Could it be a show-off? Like ‘Look what I can do’. Something with ego?”  
“Ego killers want their applause, so far we’ve nobody to tell he did a great job with this revolver. The media doesn’t know about the timer, it is a random killing so far.”  
“I really want to know what is going on the mind of the killer.” Greg sighed.  
“I can’t tell you, Greg. You should consult a real profiler.”  
“We tried, the Sheriff told us not to waste time on that but to concentrate on our job.” Sofia grumbled. Usually she had no problems with the Sheriff, in this case he had given her a few times a hard time.   
“He’s scared he’ll get the Feds in if he asks for a profiler.” Sara guessed.   
“Another person with an ego problem?” Sofia grinned.  
“Yeah, looks like. These smug people who are too proud to take some help, awful.” Sara looked at Sofia.   
“Sidle, you’re the one who’s taking off all the time on crime scenes. You refuse the assistance of the officers, don’t look at me like I don’t ask for help. And if I remember right, you are the one who walked to a source this morning, without telling the police, getting new information, again without telling the police and I bet your source wasn’t in a nice area of the city. How do you call that?”  
“Doing the job of the police because they don’t do their job?”  
“Careful.” Sofia warned.  
“She was there as my chick, not as a CSI.” Greg smiled.  
“Careful, boy.” Now it was Sara who was warning somebody.  
“If the three of you will start a fight for no real reasons, I’ll never join anyone of you for anything. You’re all three on the same side of the fence. And despite the not nice words you’ve used in the last sentences, I know you all like each other. Try a little harder to act like that, it started to good.” Jules demanded and gave all three of them a hard look. “I’ll get the dirty dishes inside and get the sundaes out, when I’m back I don’t want to hear a bad word, don’t want to see anybody straggled or anything else that makes me suggest, you had not a good time. Enjoy the last minutes of your spare time before you’ve to go back to the job. Law enforcement people, they’re worse than my nutcases in hospital.” She took the dirty plates and left the place. Being a psychologist or not, why some adults sometimes behaved like children, in a bad way, was a mystery for her.

“Anything on the bullet?” Sara asked Bobby.  
“Well, you were right, it isn’t an ordinary bullet, they’re made of lead most times. This is a quiet bullet.”  
“Means? Is it a pellet one?”  
“No. It’s a mix between a pellet and a lead bullet. I haven’t have all results from traces back, but there were a lot of materials inside. It’s not a bullet you can buy, like some quiet bullets are available on the market. This is handmade. Somebody took some time in making a bullet for exactly this revolver.”  
“Do you know somebody called Bala?”  
“Like the Spanish word for bullet? There’s a shop with this name…in a little town around thirty miles away. I know that because when we were looking for example guns we found two there, we couldn’t get in Vegas.”  
“Where exactly?” Could Bala be so stupid and work in a shop that’s named after him?   
“Conmerazon? Something like that, a real strange name.”  
“Thanks. Call me if you have something new.” Sara got her cell out and dialed Sofia’s number.  
“Curtis.”  
“Are you free for a joyride?”  
“I’m working.”  
“It’s work related.”  
“To where?”  
“Are you?”  
“Sara, what do you plan?”  
“I talked to Bobby and he gave me something on Bala, that might be nothing or everything and before you bitch around that I go alone or with Greg and not a police officer, I ask you if you’ve time…”  
“I’ll pick you up in two minutes.” Sofia finished the call before Sara could say something more.   
“Looks like she has some spare time.” Sara mumbled and walked to Grissom’s office. She should let her supervisor know where she was about to go to.  
“Hey Gris.”  
“Any new lead?”  
“Maybe. Bobby told me about a gun shop out of the city that is named Bala, like the name of the guy who makes silent bullets. I wondered if it’s his shop, too obvious usually but…”  
“Too obvious is a good cover sometimes.”  
“Yes.” She was glad he understood her.  
“Check it but don’t go alone.”  
“Would I ever go alone to a place like that?” She asked pretending to be indignant.   
“Yes, you would.” He grinned.  
“I called Sofia, she’ll pick me up in a minute.”  
“Good. Let her argue with anybody with a gun.”  
“I’ve a gun too.”  
“Yeah but it’s her job to shoot, yours is to get evidence.”  
“Why can’t I have the fun part?” Sara pouted.  
“You do, you have the evidence.”  
“Yeah, yeah…I’ll see you later.” She turned and got her kit. Stay back, get the evidence, don’t get in trouble again. These one, two three or so times she got in trouble…couldn’t they simply forget all that? She did forget it too.  
“Where do we go?” Sofia greeted her when Sara got into the car.  
“South.”  
“South like…?” There were many roads south, Sara had to be a little more exact.   
“Like out of city.”  
“Am I allowed where to go exactly or will you surprise me?”  
“Your GPS will tell you.” Sara started to put the road and house number in Sofia’s GPS and smirked.   
“Sara!”  
“Conmerazon. Why so grumpy? I thought you had a good shift.”  
“I did.”  
“Why being that snappy?”  
“Why not telling me where we go to when I ask?”  
Sara sighed quietly. This wasn’t about her not telling Sofia immediately where they were about to go to, this was something else.   
“Conmerazon, a gun shop called Bala, like the one Greg’s source talked about. According to Bobby the shop is down there and the apartment has bought two guns there, they couldn’t find in Vegas. Maybe they’ve a lot older stuff.”  
“Maybe this trip is worth nothing.”  
“Sofia, if you don’t want to go there with me, say it. I’ll get somebody else to come with me. I asked you, I didn’t tell you to join me. So make up your mind before we start the second mile. Down to Conmerazon with me and without this mood of yours or let me out of the car, I’ll call a black and white and you and your mood can go back to wherever. This is a two hour trip I won’t spend two hours with you bitching around.” Sara said calmly.   
“Sorry, won’t happen again.” The tone of the blonde wasn’t anyway near to friendly.   
Sara waited for a couple minutes for Sofia to say something before she made one last try.   
“Wanna tell me what’s up?”  
“Nothing.”  
“Alright.” So it wasn’t her business. This wouldn’t be an easy situation, but she was caught in it, had to work it out somehow. If only she had any idea what peeved the detective. She had been in a very good mood when Sara had left her in front of her car a few hours ago. Since then she hadn’t heard of Sofia, but wasn’t surprised about that. Finding her this snappy and in a bad mood made her wonder if she missed out something or if anything had happened that Sofia somehow connected to Sara.   
They stayed quiet, the sun was already in the east and gave them enough light to have a look around. Concentrating on the landscape and not the morose looking blonde next to her, Sara tried not to fall asleep. With the sunshine came not only the light but also a nice warmth that made her feel tired and she had to fight that her eyes stayed open. Falling was probably exactly she had to do to make Sofia explode.   
She got her private cell out of her pocket and sent Greg a message to his private number. Any idea what happened to the blonde? Was all she wrote. Maybe her friend knew more. News, no matter if good or bad often went often past her. Being focused on whatever she was doing, she didn’t waste a second to have her ears open for gossip and rumors.   
Silently her cell vibrated. No clue. Tired? Ask the doc she was in the department last night. Was his answer.  
Jules had been in the department? Why? Had there been any news after Jules gave Sofia this profile? Was the blonde able to find suspects that might fit this profile and she wanted Jules to talk to these people? Was it a good idea to ask Sofia?   
“Anything new of the case?” Sofia asked.  
“No…not that I know of…” Risking a fight with Sofia? Weeks ago Sara had taken this chance without hesitation, now she wasn’t sure what to do. She had the feeling they were about to become friends, a fight could destroy what they have built within the last days.   
“Jules was with you guys last night?” That was a work related question, they were on duty, it wasn’t wrong to ask about work things.  
“Yes.”  
“Was she talking to a suspect?”  
“No.”  
Okay, this didn’t work. Sara closed her eyes, took a deep breath. She felt how she got angry, how she lost her patience. “Could you please stop the car?” She asked calm.  
“Why?”  
“Please.” Calm. Friendly. Nice. Don’t lose your temper, Sara. You’ve been through this with Jules, she told you how to keep your temper, show that you learnt and understood what she said.   
Sofia slowed down and stopped the car. They were about thirty miles away from their destination, no town, no village and humans around.   
Sara opened the door, got out, opened the back door, got her kit and closed both doors. That should be enough as a statement.   
Sofia let the window run down.  
“What do you think are you doing?”  
“You go on to Canmerazon, back to Vegas, whatever, I’ll call a black and white and go on with them.” Sara turned and walked towards a lonely tree that was a few yards away. A little of shade was better than none at all. And she had to wait for her new ride for at least half an hour she guessed.   
“Will you come back? Now!” She heard Sofia calling for her out. Not willing to obey Sara kept on walking, got her personal cell out and started to write a text to Greg.   
“Sara, come back!” At least there was obvious anger in Sofia’s voice, better than the tone before. Did Jules tell her that she was not supposed to make other people lose their temper? Probably, right now Sara couldn’t remember.   
“Fuck!” The easiest thing for the moment was when the blonde took off and left her alone. She had to come up with an explanation why she was here when she was suppose to be with Sofia, but she would come up with something. She had come up with a lot of stories during her life, one more wouldn’t be a problem.  
“Sara Sidle, get your ass back in the fucking car!” It sounded more like Sofia was following her. What could she do to get Sara back in the car? In Sara’s mind nothing. A hand, that grabbed her shoulder ruggedly, spun her around.   
“Don’t you dare to touch me.” Sara hissed and looked with furious eyes at Sofia. The blonde had no right to touch her, no right to tell her what to do.  
“Will you go into that car?”  
“No.”  
“I’m not asking, Sara.”  
“I’m not obeying, Sofia.”  
“I’ll drag you in that car if you don’t go in. Ten seconds, Sara.”  
“One, two, ten.” Sara sat on her kit. She had no idea if Sofia knew that force and threats were the worst things you could do if you wanted Sara to obey. Many people had tried to force her, threaten her, the more they tried, the more Sara fought back, refused to do what she got told, when it was – sometimes – better for her to give in. More pressure meant less chances that Sara give in.   
“Okay…” Sofia wanted to grab Sara.   
“Touch me and I’ll hurt you, Sofia. I don’t give a damn about your police academy time, about your training, I’ll hurt you. You might get me sooner or later in the car but I swear I’ll give you a hard time.”   
“We’ve a job to do.”  
“I’ll do my job as soon as a black and white is here.”  
“You won’t get a black and white as long as I’m here.”  
“So get lost or I’ll walk. Might take some time but I’m used to do overtime.”  
“You are a horrible, stubborn bitch.”  
“That’s the nicest thing you’ve said to me since our shift started. Bye Sofia.”  
“I won’t go.”  
“Good. Give me the car keys, I go to Canmerazon, get the local cop, visit the shop and come back.”  
“We’ll go there together.”  
“We won’t.”  
“Don’t dare me.”   
“We won’t.” Sara got up, arms crossed in front of her chest.  
“That’s enough, I won’t go on with this kindergarten thing. You come with me now or I’ll take you.”  
“I’ll stay and you won’t take me anyway.”  
Sofia wanted to grab Sara’s hand to pull her back to the car, like you do with stubborn little children. Before Sofia could react Sara had taken her hand, bent down and let the blonde fall over her shoulder onto the ground. She had warned Sofia not to touch her, that she would hurt her.   
“Are you nuts?” Sofia got up, angrier than before. Her black clothes covered in sand and dust, no matter if she tried to clean them with her bare hands.   
“I told you not to touch me, to leave me alone.”  
“You assaulted an officer.”  
“Yeah, go ahead and call Brass. I’ll wait here.”  
“Get into that fucking car!”  
“No.”  
“I’ll hurt you.”  
“Go ahead, I’ll fight back. I think I made that clear a few seconds ago.”  
This time it was Sara who couldn’t react as fast as Sofia was moving. She grabbed the left arm of the brunette, spun her, twisted the arm behind the back. Painful, something she used for suspects. One wrong move and you broke the arm of whoever you had under control.   
“Move it.”   
“Let go.” Sara warned. She hadn’t tried to fight back. She knew, the more you tried to fight in this position, the more pain you received.   
“In the car.”  
Sara’s right arm got up and her elbow hit the nose of the blonde while her heels got deep into Sofia’s toes. With a moan the detective let go of the brunette, who stepped away.   
“Maybe you should try your gun.” Sara suggested cool.  
“As if you would ever believe I shot you.”   
“Another failure and I might have you that far. Less trouble if you just leave me alone.”  
“Won’t happen.” Sofia tried again to get Sara and again ended up on the ground. This time the brunette had her knee on the back of the detective.   
“Give up, Sofia. You won’t get me this way. Your gun is the only chance to get me in that car and like you said, I don’t believe you’ll shoot me.” She got up, walked back to her kit. She hoped that was enough, that Sofia understood, there was no way she could get Sara in the car against her will.   
This was worse than ever before. Had they been bitchy to each other before, they had never fought physically against each other. What had them made to cross that line? How could anger bring them that far?   
Sara sat on her kit. Sofia was still on the ground, on her knees. It looked like she was considering giving Sara what she wanted or coming up with another idea to get the brunette in the car. Both women were stubborn, none of them gave up easily.   
“Want a band-aid?”  
“What?”  
Sara pointed to Sofia’s nose. “You’re bleeding.”  
“Should satisfy you.”  
“I never wanted to hurt you Sofia.” Sara sighed sadly. No matter how mad she had been, maybe still was, she never wanted to harm the detective. She had ask to stop the car to get out, to get away, so that they won’t fight. It should have been clear to her that there was no way Sofia would leave her alone in the desert.   
“I felt that when you threw me on the ground, got your elbow in my face had your knee in my back.” Sofia got back on her feet, trying to ignore the blood. It wasn’t much, a medium nose bleeding.   
Sara got up, walked to the blonde, avoiding her eyes.   
“What now? Another punch?” Sofia asked when Sara was only a step away.   
Slowly the brunette got her right hand in her pocket, got a clean tissue out and started to clean up the blood gently so that she didn’t hurt Sofia. Her eyes avoiding Sofias, concentrating on the blood.   
“I’m sorry, I never wanted to hurt you.”  
“Why did you leave the car?” It was hard to talk with a tissue half in her face.   
“Something bothers you, something I’m connected to, you connect me with and it made you mad. You said there’s nothing, it’s a lie, obviously. I don’t want to have this awkward feeling the whole time, I prefer to work with somebody else, no matter how much I usually like to work with you. If you don’t want to tell me what it is, alright I accept that but then please accept that I prefer to work with somebody else.” She finished cleaning Sofia’s face. “Let me give you some cotton batting for your nose.”  
“Are you an investigator or a nurse?”  
“Investigator, nurse, bitch, Bruce Lee’s sister, I’m a lot of things, Sofia.”  
“The last two most.” Not that mad anymore Sofia followed Sara to her kit and took the cotton batting. “Why the hell do you know how to defense you like that?”  
“Over twenty years of material arts.”  
“That’s why you take off without an officer? You can simply punch the crap out of every perpetrator?”  
“In this case I left without my detective because she was a bitch, something that’s entitled to me. She can’t complain I haven’t warned her I’d hurt her if she tries to force me in that bloody car of hers.”  
“The problem is, she won’t let you here in the desert. So you need to break her nose again or come with her.”  
“Your nose isn’t broken.”  
“It will be if we go on fighting.”  
“Give up.”  
“Can’t do that. A good detective doesn’t give up nor does she leave her CSI alone.”  
“What happened between getting into your car when you left my place yesterday evening and this morning, Sofia?” Sara wanted to give it one last try. It seemed like they had lost enough steam to try it the adult way again. They could talk this out, there was no need to get physical again. She didn’t want to go through that again, didn’t want to hurt Sofia, didn’t have the power, the mental power, to fight her again.   
“Nothing.”  
“You tried that lie already. Try another one or save us both some time and tell me the truth.” She wouldn’t accept that it wasn’t her business, Sofia made it Sara’s business.   
“What makes you think the truth is better than a lie?”  
“I don’t know, call me naïve.”  
“You’re a lot of things, Sara, but not naïve.” Sofia took a look around before she continued. “What brought us here, Sara?”  
“Stupidity. Stubbornness. Me asking you to join me, you driving us here. More stupidity. More stubbornness.”  
“Yeah.” Sofia sat down, slowly massaging her temples.   
“Headache?”  
“There’s one coming up.”  
“Wait.” Softly Sara put Sofia’s hands away, replaced them with hers and started to rub index finger and middle finger gently in little circles.   
Sofia closed her eyes. That was good. Was there a hidden physio next to Sara’s Bruce Lee personality?   
“I’m sorry.”  
“It’s my job to sorry, I’m afraid you’ve this headache because of me.” Sara said. She hurt her. How could she? They had been on a way to become friends, how could she lose her temper and her mind and do something like that?   
“It was there before, you’ve given me a few bruises.”  
“We can christen them Sara.”  
Sofia had to chuckle. “Yeah, maybe.”  
“I don’t have any ice…”  
“I don’t want ice…only ice cream.”  
“Don’t have that either.”  
“What do you have?”  
“Not much.”  
“Wanna have an explanation?”  
“Would be nice. I could offer an apology for that.”  
“I got a few already, it’s my time to apologize. I had no right to be that moody, to make you feel like you had done something wrong. It was nothing you did or said.”  
“Want to tell me what it is rather than what it not is?” Sara didn’t stop rubbing Sofia’s temples. Soft moves, fighting the headache, making Sofia feel relaxed.   
“Some guys talked bullshit.”  
“The do that all the time.”  
“Yeah.” Sofia stopped, looking for the right way to explain. When she thought about it, it sounded ridiculous to her, was she able to put it into words that wouldn’t sound this ridiculous?   
“One of the guys saw me talking in private to Jules last night.”  
“And?”  
“He saw her coming out of a club.”  
“Saw her where? What club?”  
“Berries or something like that.”  
“Really? I didn’t know it’s under police surveillance.”  
“It isn’t, he drove by.”  
“So? Where’s the problem?”  
“What do you think he thought and told the other guys when he saw me talking to her like you talk to a person you know private?”  
“You know her, she’s a friend?”  
“I’m a dike.”  
“Beside the fact that this is nothing bad, it’s not his business and not everybody in that club is gay. It’s open to everybody.” Sara had been to it a few times.   
“It’s popular with gay people, it’s famous for that.”  
“So they made a few stupid comments.” Was that the problem? Did Sofia care about the bullshit some of her colleagues might say?   
“Yes.”  
“Since when do you give a damn when somebody talks bullshit?”  
“I don’t, my mother does.”  
“Oh come on, you’re old enough not to be scared of Captain Curtis anymore.” Sofia was an adult, she had not to worry about that her mother thought. It was her life, she could live it the way she wanted and how her mother wanted. Wasn’t it enough that Sofia joined the police force to please her mother? Sara was sure, if it was more important for the captain to see her daughter climbing up in the police than it was for Sofia.   
“She’s my mother.”  
“Yes she is. You’re her daughter, she should love you, no matter whom you love. And she should ask for your side of the story first before she believe any stupid rumors. You didn’t do anything…unmoral? Didn’t sin? Disgusting? Whatever you want to call something absolutely natural.”  
“I just can’t use any stupid talk like this. It was hard enough to make them stop talking crap because I’ve been a CSI before.”  
“And because Greg asked you to join us to the club on Saturday you’re mad at me? Isn’t it easier to tell us you won’t join us?”  
“I’m not mad at you.”  
“You were.”  
“No I…was under pressure, acted stupid.”  
“You don’t have to join us, no more rumors.”  
“Sara, I’m sure I’ll enjoy that night I’d love to come with the three of you.” Sofia had enjoyed her afternoon with Sara, Jules and Greg, she had looked forward to meet them for some dancing before her colleagues had annoyed her with their stupid comments. She still wanted to go out with the others on Saturday; if they got the night off.   
“It will be a scene club.”  
“Doesn’t matter.”  
“You can wear a wig, short black hair.”  
“That’s ridiculous.”  
“Nobody will recognize you like that.”  
“It’s ridiculous, it’s nothing bad to go to scene club as long as they play good music, damn it. It’s only a club.”  
“I know.” Sara smiled a bit. She was sure Sofia googled ‘Double Choc’ and knew everything about it. No need to tell her it was again a club open to everybody. They preferred to go to clubs like this, people were more relaxed than in ordinary dance clubs.   
“Just…stupid…”  
“It is.” Sara stopped massaging Sofia, went in front of the detective and offered her her hand.  
“What now?”  
“I think we should go on to Conmarazon, we’re already half an hour late. At some point Grissom and/or Brass want to know what we’ve found out so far. Telling them that we’re stubborn and stupid won’t satisfy them.”   
“I thought you won’t go into the car anymore?”  
“I think we won’t bitch around anymore.”  
“You mean I won’t bitch anymore?”  
“We.” Sara smiled and pulled Sofia up on her feet. “Come on, detective, we’ve a man to wake up. A possible killer, I need you by my side to protect me.”  
“You made it very clear you can protect yourself just fine. Over twenty years of material arts. I don’t believe it.”  
“You shoot better and we’re dealing with somebody who owns a gun shop, I bet he knows how to use them. Come on, detective, protect and serve.”  
“I can do that if you make that CSI woman listen to what I say.”  
“She’ll listen when you say something sensible.”  
“Get into that car! Now!” Sofia grumbled and pushed Sara towards the car without squeezing her hand softly for a second. At the end she got Sara back in the car, she won. 

Delayed but still way before opening time they arrived in Conmarazon, a sleepy little town of three hundred something. Why this little place needed a gun shop was a mystery to Sofia. So was how she and Sara had ended up in a fight. How she could end up trying to force Sara in the car and Sara punched her a bloody nose. That wasn’t their style and she knew, none of them had intended to hurt the other.   
“The owner is a Jose Fernandez, he lives above the shop.” Sara said after checking with Greg in the lab.   
“He’ll be delighted to see us at this time.” Sofia stopped her car in front of the shop and got out of the car, her shades hiding her eyes. Nobody was on the streets at this time of the day, it was too early for school, shops and anybody else. She guessed half of the people were asleep the other half having breakfast after feeding the cattle. Or whatever they had here.   
“I bet most guys are delighted to see two beautiful women any time.” Sara smiled.   
“Until they found the women are working for the police. That takes away a lot of attraction.”  
“Maybe you met the wrong guys in the past.” Sara waited until Sofia was next to her before she rang the door bell.  
“I did. Definitely.”  
Nothing happened. Sara rang again.   
“It’s past seven, time to be awake. It’s Monday.”  
“Just another manic Monday.” Sara began to hum.   
“Stop that.” Sofia tried not to giggled. They had to be serious, bad ass cops.   
“Time it goes so fast when you’re having fun.”  
“Don’t dare me.”  
“Remember the twenty years plus.”  
“Remember the gun.”  
“Lame threat.” Sara knocked on the door. First slow, than hard and loud.   
“Can’t you kick it, Bruce?”  
“You explain our bosses?”  
“Go on knocking.”  
“What the fuck do you want?” A voice from below yelled angrily. Somebody was home, no doubt about it.  
“LVPD, we want to talk to Mister Fernandez.”  
“He’s on holiday…somewhere in the Caribbean.”  
“If he doesn’t want his shop being in the spot of a huge police investigation with a big search he comes back ASAP.” Sofia answered. No more signs of an old song, no more signs of a headache, no more signs of a woman who worried about what her mother thinks about her sex life. Only a cold cop who wasn’t joking and used to get what she wanted.   
“Give me a damn minute.”  
“We’re counting.”  
“It’s a shame I hit the nose and not the eye. A black eye would be perfect for a show-off. Don’t even dare to ask how the other one looks.” Sara teased quietly.   
“Wanted to explain the black eye to our bosses?”  
“Glad there’re no traces left of that…incident.”  
“Mhm.” Sofia eyed Sara but her left corner of the mouth moved up for a split second. There was no bad blood between them, they had talked it out.  
An old man in dirty jeans and a former white shirt opened the door.  
“What do you want?”  
“Detective Curtis, LVPD, Miss Sidle CSI. A look around, a talk, some answers.”  
“Do I look like a tourist guide?”  
“Do we look like tourists?”  
“Bloody tourists don’t come here and not at this time of the day.”  
“See. Your shop, please.”  
“You’ve a warrant?”  
“Want me to get one? Together with a dozen colleagues who’ll search every inch of your house, shop and if they have to, the entire city. I bet some people would be very pissed off if you draw so much police attention to here, Bala.”  
“My name is Fernandez.”  
“Shop or warrant?” Sofia wasn’t sure if she had enough evidence to get a warrant but why tell that the man? He had no idea what she knew.  
“Bloody police.” He grumbled, pushed the door open so that Sara and Sofia could follow him. Through a dirty and dark hallway he guided them in the shop.   
“Ask what you have to ask.”  
“Where do you get the name for your shop from?”  
“Isn’t it obvious? Bala – bullet. Here’re more Mexicans living than Gringos.”  
“A tiny town with a gun shop. Who are your customers?”  
“Tourists, hunter from all over the state. Don’t need to be in fancy Vegas to have good quality stuff.”  
“That’s why the crime lab was here for a shopping. We’re looking for quiet bullets. A replacement for a silencer.”  
“Why not take a freaking silencer?”  
“It’s a revolver.”  
“Police don’t use revolver.”  
“Killer do. The bullet?”  
“I don’t have quiet bullets.”  
“You know where we get them.” It was not a question, it was a statement.  
“Internet.”  
“Not for a thirty years old revolver.”  
“Shoot your dinner with something else, lady.”  
“Detective. And you’re not making me happy. I’m past my work time, I want to go home, leave you alone. For that you have to answer my question and not bullshit me.”  
“I can’t make quiet bullets, I sell guns.”  
“Tell me who makes them.”  
“I don’t know.”  
“Jose. Am I not clear? I won’t leave with nothing so better give me something or I’ll stay longer. And with every minute more I’ll get more cranky, the lady next to me was already a bitch in the car, don’t dare her, she has a reputation for not caring too much about rules. We need an hour to get back to Vegas, we count that on our overtime what makes us even more cranky and bitchy. It’s much easier for us to call our colleagues and let them search your house while we go home and sleep. You won’t sleep for a while after our colleagues have been here, you know that, Jose.”  
“Some guy in Vegas makes quiet bullets.”  
“Bala.”  
“Why do you ask when you know his name already?”  
“Your shop has his name…”  
“This shop has it’s name for over forty years, I’ve no idea how old Bala is, but I doubt he was in the business when I opened mine.”  
“Got a revolver? Thirty years old?”  
“No.”  
“Had one.”  
“A had a few during the years.”  
“When did you sell the last one.”  
“Can’t remember.”  
“Sara, get the phone, we need to check all the records of Mister Fernandez.”  
“Will you stop that!” Fernandez complained. “What kind?”  
“Better.” Sofia took a photo of the revolver they’ve taken out of the fun ride. “This one. Not one like this, this one. No serial number.”  
“Sold it three months ago.”  
“Sure?”  
“Of course.”  
“To whom?”  
“I don’t ask for a license when I sell a fucking gun without a serial number, lady. White dude, early thirties.”  
“Give me more to make me forget you sold a gun without a serial number and knew about it.” Sofia demanded. Now she had enough for a warrant. He just gave it to her on a silver tray.   
“Dude wore a wig, black hair, but it was a cheap one plus his eye brows were to bright. Blond, dark blonde, something like that. Gray eyes, Texas accent, probably faked, he overdid the accent. Around five ten, one sixty pounds but sporty not fat. Didn’t see a car, he paid cash, I didn’t ask.”  
For a shop owner he was a well trained observer.   
“How did he know about the gun?”  
“He didn’t. He asked for a revolver, I said I don’t have one I can sell, he asked how much it is to make me get a revolver he could sell. He asked for an old looking one. I named a price, he took out a bunch of Benjamins and left with his new gun. Story ends.”  
“You didn’t wonder what he had in mind?”  
“He bought a revolver without a serial number, he had nothing noble in mind. Me, selling him this revolver, I was no position to tell the police and I’m not that stupid to ask him what he had planed. Guessed he’d use it for something more than hunting rabbits. People who want to shoot more than rabbits have no problem to shoot noise old guys. Especially in a place with no real police, no surveillance.”  
“I want an exactly date, Jose.”  
“God damn it.” He got with his hands through his face to relief his anger. “Two weeks after the baseball season was over.”  
“Saturday or Sunday?”  
“This shop isn’t open on Sundays.”  
“Bala?”  
“You need money for him.”  
“How much?”  
“At least a bunch of Benjamins.”  
“Then what?”  
“He get the word out you’ve the money and have a job, he’ll find you. Haven’t seen him don’t know anybody who has.”  
“See Jose, that wasn’t too bad, was it? Now we can drive back to Vegas and you can go on smoking dope.” Sofia smiled. She had smelled the sweet smell of marihuana when Jose came down to them, but hadn’t said anything.   
“But if I were you I’d stop that, there might be some more questions and some colleagues smell much better than we do and they like to bring warrants.” Sofia turned, unlocked the front door of the shop and left it.   
Sara followed her, a hidden smile on her face. Yes, it could be fun working with Sofia. All you had to do was throwing her over your shoulder, punch her in the face and make her talk. She hoped she didn’t have to do all this every time she worked with the blonde. 

“What are you doing here?” Sara asked. She was late, she was tired and Greg was sitting on her balcony. He was supposed to be in bed.  
“Waiting for you. I bet you didn’t have breakfast on your trip.” He got up, took her arms and dragged her gently to the wooden chairs.   
“Greg, I’m tired.”  
“I know and you haven’t eaten since last night. Ten minutes, Sara.“ He petted her shoulder and made it clear he wanted her to stay where she was. What else could she do? He was in her condo, there was no way she got rid off him.   
A few seconds later Greg came back with a glass of orange juice and bowl filled with fruits and cereals.   
“Thanks.”  
“You’re welcome.”  
“Why did you come along?”  
“I missed you.”  
“Sure, you always do. And in reality?”  
“In reality I miss you too but I came here to hear if you got something? Did that little drive to wherever gave you some answers?”  
“Three months ago a man, who dressed himself up like somebody else, bought a revolver like our without a serial number. No bullets. No Bala either. This guy said the same like your source, you need money and let the street know, you want him.”  
“Nothing new to work with. I assume there was no surveillance in the shop with bands stocked for three months.”  
“Of course there was plus a fingerprint system on the door that saves all fingerprints of everybody who walked into that shop since Christmas.” Sara said cynical.  
“Funny.”  
“Stupid suggestion.”  
“I know. What about Sofia? Did she go back to normal?”  
“Yes.”   
“What was wrong with her?”  
“Some stupid talk at work.”  
“They are cops, they do stupid talk.”  
“I know that.”  
“So what else happened?”  
“Huh?”  
“Honey, I know you, you’re holding back information. Some major information. Spill it out, Sara, I’ll get you talk anyway. You tell me straight away you’ll have your bed faster.”   
“Leave me alone.”  
“I won’t.”  
“Bad puppy.”  
“Mean bitch.”  
“Whatever happened between Sofia and me is out of the world, no need to worry.”  
“No need not to tell.”  
“She got a bloody nose and a few bruises thanks to me.”  
“What?” Greg had a lot of fantasy, he could see Sara doing a lot of things, making Sofia bleed and giving her bruises was nothing he had on his list about things Sara could possible do. There must have been a misunderstanding.   
“Say that again, I understood Sofia got a bloody nose and bruises of you. Really stupid, I know, I need to let my ears check.”  
“We got into a fight.”  
“Word fight.”  
“No. I left the car because she was moody, she wanted me back in the car, tried to force me, drag me, I threw her over my shoulder first. She got me, got me in the cop grip, I smashed my elbow on her nose and my heels on her toes before me knee ended on her back when she tried her luck for the third time.”  
“Knowing you, you treated her after that.”  
“Yes…” Sara stopped, her eyes full of sorrow and some fear. “Greg, what if I am like my parents? If that is a beginning of turning into somebody who abuses people?” Her parents had been abusive, her mother had killed her father, who had abused both for years. Maybe she was like her parents or just turned into her parents.  
“Sara.” Greg got his hands under Sara and with a strength you couldn’t see when you saw him, he pulled her on his lab and got her deep into his arms. “You won’t. You do have a temper…”  
“Violence issue.”  
“A temper, that’s why you went to Jules and to her colleague. You’re not a violent person and you know that. Sofia always had a way to make you mad, I’ve no idea why.”  
“I injured her, Greg.”  
“She tried to force you.”  
“She was right.”  
“Why?”  
“Because I acted stupid.”  
“You warned her?”  
“Yes.”  
“You told her to leave you alone?”  
“Yes. It was stupid, she was right, we were on duty, we had a guy to talk to.”  
“Is she mad at you?”  
“No.”  
“You think she’ll give you a hard time because of what happened?”  
Sara thought for a few seconds. “No.”  
“Will you do it again?”  
“No! I never wanted to hurt her. She was bleeding, Greg.”  
“It won’t happen again.”  
“What if…”  
“It won’t happen again, I know you Sara. You pushed each others up, she tried to force you, you defended yourself. There won’t be any bad blood.”  
“I scare myself sometimes.”  
“You’re an ordinary woman, Sara. With a little temper, a very stubborn head and the cutest smile I’ve ever seen. And now I’ll carry you to bed.”  
“Are you trying to get into my bed too?”  
“Do you want me in your bed?”  
“You know I answer this question with a ‘no’, don’t you?”  
“Yes I do.”  
“This time I don’t say ‘no’. But I warn you, I’ll use you. Because I need somebody to hold me.”  
“Use me, baby.” Greg kicked Sara’s bedroom door open and put her down on the bed.   
“Thanks Greg.”  
“You’re welcome.”  
She hugged him, kissed his cheek. “I love you.”  
“Of course you do as I do love you. Get your stuff, go into the bathroom, I’ll get the bed ready.”  
“The bed ready?”  
“Sure. You’ll be in my arms and Mister Woff will be in yours.” He grinned and made Sara laugh. Mister Woff was his stuffed animal, he had at Sara’s place. There was a reason why they called Greg ‘Puppy’ and Mister Woff was the reason. And it suited Greg perfectly. 

Coming to work together with Greg gave a new work day a good start. Sara opened the door for him and followed her friend into the break room, where the rest of the team was sitting.  
“Lovers late.” Nick comment with a smirk.  
“Jealous here.” Greg simply shot back and started to make some coffee.   
“We put the word out on the street that we’re looking for Bala.” Grissom greeted them.  
“We?” Sara cocked a brow. The man unlikely to contact the LVPD.  
“A source of ours. As soon as Bala tells him where to meet him, we’ll get the information and hopefully the man. In case he shows up without an appointment there’re two police officers undercover close to the source. They’ll take photos of everybody who comes close to the source.”  
“You think Bala will tell us who the killer is? Something like that could be deadly for him.” Sara doubted. It seemed like Bala had a good reputation on the street and you don’t get that by cooperating with the police. Cooperation usually ends your life faster when you’re in a scene Bala was. Killer didn’t mind to lose somebody who gives their names to the police.   
“We can try.”  
“The bullet was very special.” Warrick gave the list with all the materials they had found inside the bullet.   
“Yeah, I can see that.” Sara flew over the lines. Somebody had spent some time for this and she was sure, he got a lot of money for it.  
“Why go through all this? Why make such a fuzz to shoot somebody? Somebody random? It makes no sense to me.” Cath wondered.   
“There must be a reason we haven’t seen yet. I want us to see it soon.” Grissom demanded. In that moment Brass came in the room.  
“We’ve got a message.”  
“They’ve got Bala?”  
“No, Bala has us. He has sent us a message.” Brass handed a piece of paper to Grissom.  
“Stop wasting your time looking for me, I didn’t make the bullet. There’s no B on it.”  
“Where did you get this one from?”  
“Anonymous email contact. You guys are free to check it, it looks like somebody created it just for this email.”  
“Why?” Warrick asked.  
“Because the name of the person is: Copsgotitwrong. I doubt somebody has this as a name, but feel free to find out any better.”  
“What does he mean with ‘no B on it’?” Cath asked.  
“Does ‘B’ stand for Bala? Why put a clue on a bullet that kills somebody?” Greg wondered.  
“This guy, Bala, is very proud of his work, he wants people to know he made the bullet, he made this little masterpiece.” Jules came in the room. “All his bullets have a little B on them. It’s not illegal to make bullets, he doesn’t use them himself. At least so far nobody could prove different. Somebody making a bullet and pretends it’s his work, he gets pissed off.” So far for her statement, she wasn’t a profiler. It looked like she had to be a profiler in this case, at least it felt like that for her. She got an hour ago a call from the Sheriff, who wanted her to work with the email and tell him and the rest of the team how likely it was that this email was from Bala.   
“I checked some cases with self-made bullets, quiet bullets. They all had a ‘B’ on them and Bala never denied he made them. You can’t find him, he won’t come here, even if there’s nothing that proves he is a killer, but he is proud of his work. This seemed to be somebody’s else work. And if I’m right with his ego, Bala has a huge interested in finding whoever made this bullet too. He won’t like to have a combatant. If this was a way of getting attention, a way to promote your bullets, it worked out.”  
“You think somebody made the bullet, went through all these trouble only the shoot anybody and get famous?” Brass asked.  
“Get a lot of money. He won’t come here and tell us, he made the bullet. He’ll let people on the street know and he has to be very careful: we’re on his back and so will be Bala. By having a quiet bullet in an old revolver he showed, he is talented, he can do special jobs and he’s not afraid of big jobs. I’m sure some people will wait to find him, to give some orders to him.”  
“Student? Chemistry student who wants to play bad boy and make a lot of money?”  
“I doubt that. He’ll have a good knowledge of chemistry, guns, physics and a file. Not for guns or anything like that. It’s about ego and money. I bet he needs money and this is the perfect way to get a lot of money, tax free money. A gambler, somebody who lives in the gray area, without a regular job or a job where he can make his bullets. A part time job maybe, this way he can order all the material he needs without using his name.”  
“Sounds more like a professional.”   
“We’re not looking for an idiot, captain. We’re looking for somebody who has the ability to become a big fish. And doesn’t mind to kill innocent bystanders.”  
“Got anything positive, doc?”  
“Depends on the view: he won’t strike without an order again.”  
“No more bodies, no more clues who he is.” Greg sighed. “Jules, when we pretend to be interested in his work, want to hire him, do you think his ego will make him contact us?” Greg saw no reason in calling his friend by her surname, they all could know that they were friends.   
“You need to be very good, he won’t response to any offer. He wants attention but not that bad that he’ll risk to get caught.”  
“I tried some of our sources, they all claim not to know the guy, thought it is Bala who made the bullet.” Brass got up. “Find this guy, doc.”  
“I’m a psychologist, not a psychic.”  
“Is there any difference?” He left the room.  
“How good is your influence on your source, Greg?” Grissom asked.   
“Like good enough to make him order a bullet? I doubt he’s cool enough for that and he’s only a little fish, it’s not very likely that he’ll order a quiet bullet, what for? He sells guns, some are hot, some are stolen, but he has nothing to do with murder.”  
“Even when we find this man, how do we connect him to the murder?” Sara asked. “Will his ego be that big that he’ll confess only to tell somebody how brilliant he is?”  
“Arrogant but not stupid, Sara. He’ll try to make you adjust what a great bullet it is without saying with words he made it. You’ll see his pride, you’ll feel how he wants to make you talk about the bullet, all that won’t give you a confession. You need to find something that connects him with the bullet, something physical.”  
“We don’t have anything physical yet.”  
“Find it. It’s somewhere, everybody makes a mistake.”

There was no mistake. No matter how often Sara looked at the evidence, at the little bit they had, she couldn’t see anything. There was no hair on the doll, there were no prints on it, there was no sign of where he bought the clothes. She guessed a second hand shop, but there was no label, nothing that indicated from where anything was.   
“Anything?” Sofia came in the room. It was the first time they saw each other after their trip in the morning.   
“Nothing.” Sara looked for any signs of their fight, there was nothing. No bruise in the face her elbow had hit the blonde’s nose.   
“Where do you buy this dolls?” Sofia had put on some gloves, what Sara first wanted to comment with, that she wasn’t a CSI anymore. She stayed quiet and watched the blonde examine the doll.  
“It’s not like you can buy it in any shop.”  
“According to the manager of the Silver Mine they ordered their dolls at a company in Mexico. This company doesn’t exist anymore, it closed ten years ago. They have like a dozen dolls in storage, it doesn’t seem like they need them a lot. Nobody touches them, they don’t have to do anything, the only thing that needs to be replaced on a regular basis is the electric system.”  
“All dolls are still in storage?”  
“Yes.”  
“I assume there are no files in the closed company about people around Vegas who bought a doll as well?”  
“Good joke, Sofia.” The company was closed since ten years, Sara doubted there was anything left of it, beside the walls.   
“Other theme parks? I mean, they close fun rides all the time, what do they do with their dolls? Can you get them for cheap money?”  
“Want to call all theme parks and ask if they have sold dolls in the last years? And have notes about who bought them and where this persons live.”  
“Got a better idea, investigator?”  
“If I had I wouldn’t be here, I’d be out and catch a killer.”  
“You’d watch the police catching a killer.”  
“Of course, I’m only allowed to defense myself.”  
“You do that quite good.”   
“Do you have any pain?” Sara mumbled? They were alone but she didn’t want to risk that anybody could hear them.  
Sofia shook her head, smiled a bit. “Takes more than that to knock me out.”  
“You were lucky I didn’t use the top of my elbows. Otherwise your nose would be broken now.”  
“Means you’re lucky too, you could be in custody.”  
“For what? Self defense?”  
“Assaulting an officer.”  
“Thought it’s detective. Didn’t you work for your shield?”  
“Don’t get cheeky, Sidle. You’re under surveillance.”  
“Scary. Sofia?”  
“We agree on that whoever placed the doll in the Silver Mine knew the fun ride and the area that’s off limits for guests?”  
“Looks like.”  
“This ride is the oldest one, have you been in there when it was new?”  
“How old do you think I am?”  
“Younger than me, I know that. What I mean, you are from Vegas, have you been in the Silver Mine as a child?”  
“Maybe, my parents didn’t really take me to theme parks, there was no time, you know how it is when you work in the law enforcement. Why do you ask?”  
“I think this fun ride wasn’t the only one that was made in old wild west style when it was new. I’m sure they had more, the old rides got replaced year by year for something more exciting. Surely they kept some things as a replacement for the Silver Mine or whatever else they had running around this theme before this ride was the last one.   
I had a look through the history of the park a couple of years ago they closed almost half of the wild west area, replaced it with new and more exciting fun rides. I wonder where they left all these things, did they sell it? Did they throw it away?”  
“You think our killer got one of these dolls years ago? That he had planed to do this for years?”  
“No, not for years but I think he got one of these dolls somehow.”  
“Lenny.”  
“Who is Lenny?”  
“He showed me around, works in the theme park for over forty years. I bet he knows where the old stuff goes to.” Sofia took her cell phone.   
“It’s five in the morning.” Sara said.   
“Yeah, he’ll be up, remember the 24/7 week? They’re running again, means he’ll be around from four to eight in the evening. This man is obsessed with his fun ride and his rides were always in the wild west area…Lenny? This is detective Curtis speaking. Lenny, you told me you’ve always worked around the wild west area, tell me, were there more fun rides like the Silver Mine years ago?” Sofia paused to wait for an answer and, how it looked, a little story about the theme park.   
“I bet it was. Were there dolls like in the Silver Mine in other fun rides?”  
Sara leant back, watched the blonde and waited for whatever or not she was about to find out. She wasn’t sure what Sofia was after.   
“Where do you have them?…all of them?…really? Interesting. No, I didn’t know that. Okay.” Sofia walked to a desk in the corner. “Where?” She started to wrote something down. “I’ll do that…sure, I’m sure you can…thanks Lenny, make sure your rides are running smoothly and don’t forget to take a break. Bye.” She closed her cell phone.   
“What did your source tell you?”  
“That they never found the originally doll and he misses the drunken doll on top of the bridge, the ride isn’t complete without it but his boss doesn’t see the need to get a new one as soon as possible.”  
“Touching.”  
“You’re cynical, Sidle.”  
“That’s one of the my nicer sides. So, was there anything interesting that helps us with the case that your man could tell you?”  
“There’s a big storage around five miles away from the theme park. They bring all of the old stuff to there, some gets stored, some gets sold. They had another ride like the Silver Mine, he guesses most of the stuff is sold, rotten in the garbage somewhere but there might be some dolls left.”  
“Somebody who worked in the theme park long enough to know the ways around security, who moves like he belongs there, should know about this storage area and that there are things from former fun rides. He could got the doll from there, that would explain why it looks like the one that belongs there, get the right clothes on it, it’s all made in Mexico, no chance for us to find something about it now, I’ve no idea how many years later, and you’ve a killer without a trace.” Sara concluded.   
“Could be. Wanna have a little joyride with me?”  
“Depends.”   
“On what?”  
“Will we go straight to the place or will we take a break again to get some air?” The brunette smirked.   
“I think we’re fine with the air today, aren’t we?”   
“Yes.”  
“Good. Come on, you drive.”

Half an hour later they were in front of a huge storage building. Sofia had talked to the owner of the theme park on the cell phone while they were on their way to the storage building. He had arranged that they could get inside, had called the night watchman, who opened them the gate and left a master key with them.   
“You know there’s the stuff of all rides inside?” Sara asked. “Over thirty years of theme park are put in this building, we’ll need some time to find what we’re looking for. If we find it at all.”  
“That’s life.” Sofia closed the door and walked to the gate. “The night watchman said, there might be some people around. Apparently here are two or three men every day, looking what they can use in the park, what is so much broken that they have to throw it away and they also repair things here.”   
“Lot’s of opportunities to prepare a case like we have.” Sara opened the door. Inside the building it was too dark to walk around without light but too bright to say it was dark.   
“Where do we want to start?” Sofia put on some gloves.   
“Let’s find one of the men who work here to get any idea where to start. Maybe they’ve a kind of system here, like wild west, water world or universe.”  
“Sounds good.” They walked down the aisle, along old wagons, decoration, metal, wood and parts of an old children fun ride. The horses had been white once, now they were gray, had only one ear, lost a hoof or a whole leg.   
“Creepy.” Sofia mumbled.  
“I’m fine with this but I think clowns and dolls are creepy. I do think sometimes they’re watching me.” Sara confessed.   
“Since we have a doll in custody for killing a human and I’ve seen Chucky a few times, I agree on that. Dolls are creepy…there’s somebody.” A man was standing in front of a shelf, a list in his hands.  
“Excuse me.” Sofia called out.   
“What are you doing here?”  
“LVPD, we talked to the owner. I’m detective Curtis, that’s Miss Sidle with the crime lab.”  
“Goodman. What are you looking for, detective?”  
“We wonder if you have some dolls of the Silver Mine.”  
“They’ve them in their storage, around a dozen, I think.”  
“There are none here?”  
“A few, but they’re all broken. It’s like the first class stuff in the theme park, to exchange something quick, we’re here with the old rubbish.”  
“That includes Silver Mine dolls.”  
“Yeah, parts of them. Some miss a limb, the head, are torn. Why?”  
“You’ve a list of them? And similar dolls?”  
“All dolls are in the same area, down the aisle, left, do on for ten aisles and turn right. There are dolls, clothes for them, hats, whatever you need to make them look like they belong to the scene they’re in.”  
“Did you make one for the theme park within the last months?”  
“No, like I said, they’ve better quality dolls there.”  
“Do you repair them, in case they’d ask for it?”  
“I don’t repair anything here. I’m here to make sure somebody knows what’s in and where it is. Hank is the one who repairs everything, from dolls to wagons. He must be somewhere around or in his workshop, not too far away from your dolls. He can tell you if there is a doll requested right now, I won’t know until there’s the order to send it to the theme park.”  
“Thanks Mister Goodman.”   
They walked down the aisle to get to the dolls.  
“Want to talk to Hank?” Sofia asked.  
“With this name he has to be guilty, no matter of what.” Sara mumbled.  
“What? Why?”  
“Nothing.”  
“Your ex?”  
“The case, detective. We’re here to find a murder not to exchange gossip.”  
“I can do both.” Sofia smiled but didn’t try to get any further information about a man called Hank, how obviously hadn’t left a very good impression in Sara’s life. This wasn’t the right place to talk about the brunette’s private life nor was it any of Sofia’s business. Only because they had two afternoons without a fight, it didn’t mean Sara considered Sofia as a friend. The little incident in the desert showed, the brunette was still able to be very mad at the blonde. No matter if she was right about it or not.   
“Dolls, in one part, in two parts or many parts. Why keep all these dolls?” Sara wondered when they were in front of a huge shelf with dolls.   
“I’ve no idea, the Silver Mine is that old, you’d think they’ll kick it out of the program anyway soon. Or replace everything with something new.”  
“I’ll check if I find the same clothes like our doll has.”  
“I’ll pay Hank a visit, maybe he can tell me something interesting.”  
“Okay.” Sara took a little ladder and started to climb it. It would take some time to check on all the dolls, she had already seen the woman, who was standing on a table in the pub singing and dancing. Parts of her, she missed an arm. She wondered if in the beginning some dolls had been to close to the wagons and people ripped off arms, fingers or pieces of clothes.   
Under a saddle made of plastic she found the head of a horse, what scared her for a split of a second. Why keep the head of a horse? Did they really replace the head when the horse was broken? What could break in or off a head of a horse?   
The second shelf was like the first one big enough for her to leave the ladder and actually knee down in all the clothes. She felt like working in a second hand place, sorting through clothes. Jeans, some with wholes, some with paint on them, shirt with sleeves, without, with pockets, one with half a pocket, all full of dust and a cowboy hat. She took the head in her hands, turned it, saw the star for the sheriff. Before she could think of where the sheriff had been in the Silver Mine a loud bang made her flinch.   
What she saw then was even worsen than the bang. Her ladder was gone, fell down. She was around five to six yards high, how was she suppose to get down?   
“Great.” She thought for a moment to call out for Sofia, then she thought, it had been so loud, the blonde must have heard it, would come back to see if anything happened here. No need to stop searching. So far there hadn’t been their doll or anything she could recognize as it’s clothes.   
When she didn’t hear Sofia a few minutes later and had finished her shelf, she took her cell phone. Maybe the blonde was too far away to hear the noise the ladder had made.   
“Oh come on.” Sofia grumbled. No signal. They weren’t that far away, why was there no signal in this building? Another look down Sara sighed. Waiting for Sofia to come along or climbing? There wasn’t much to hold on, but she could manage. With a belt she found between the clothes, she made a rope. She wasn’t sure if the belt could hold her, but in case she slipped, it would slow her fall down.   
Step by step she placed her shoes on the screw nuts, that hold the bottom of the shelves, her hands holding on the wood. Having a distance of a yard between the shelves, it made it difficult for Sara to climb, so she made the decision to jump when she was around three yards high. Her belt was long gone, she could try it the slow way and risk an unwanted fall, she couldn’t control or a controlled jump.   
With one deep breath she let go of the shelf, tried to loosen her muscles and as soon as she touched the ground, she took the pressure of the fall a little bit away by rolling over her shoulder. Dirty pants, a little bit of pain in her legs and gray hands were all she got from her little jump.   
“I’m getting old, years ago this hadn’t been any problems.” She looked at her ladder, that was next to the shelf. “Little bastard, why did you fall?” She made the decision to have a look for Sofia first, to tell her, she might please check every now and then if the ladder was still in place so Sara didn’t have to jump and climb again.   
She opened the door to the workshop and found Sofia sitting on chair. Alone.  
“Are you having a break?”  
“Sara!”   
“Yeah what…” Then she saw that the hands of the detective were behind her back.   
“I thought you are on the shelf.” Sara turned. There was a man, holding something that looked like Sofia’s gun.   
“How do you know? Did you…oh I told the ladder off for falling but you made it fall. I assume you’re Hank.”  
“And I assume you’ll get your gun away before I shoot your friend, officer.”  
“Officer? I’m not a cop, I’m a CSI, I can use my head.”   
“Gun away.”  
“Yeah, yeah.” Sara threw her gun away. “But you take back the officer. I’m not a cop, I’m a CSI, I work with my head. I don’t need a gun to get what I want, I can think.” Ego. Jules had said the bullet maker had an ego issue. Maybe Sara could use that.   
“Looks like, you found a way to get down the shelf.”  
“Of course, all you need is something to work with, no matter what. If you’re smart enough you can work with everything.”  
“That’s true.”  
“Did you create the doll? That was used in the Silver Mine?” Sara pointed to some clothes that looked like they were from the Silver Mine.   
“The doll? You think I’m that stupid?”  
“Well you chained the cop to the only heavy chair so she can’t move, that is a proof you’re smart. How did you get her there?”  
“She wanted to look where noise came from, not thinking of being prepared for everything. It wasn’t that difficult to get her in here after I had her gun.”  
Sara looked at Sofia. “Serve and protect, huh? I knew I’m better off with a dog. Can’t use her head for some real work and is even too stupid to do her job. They tell you right from the start in police academy you need to be alert. But cops are only alert when there’re donuts around. Or fresh coffee.”  
“Get your ass next to her.”  
“Like to play?” Sara asked with a smirk.  
“Why?”  
“Shooting us would be stupid, too many people know we’re here and they know you’re here. So if you leave us here and I put the word out on the streets that you needed a gun to control a CSI, your reputation is – let’s say, you won’t be known as a tough guy. Put that gun away and get me, you gave her a fair chance to defense herself, kicking away my ladder was quit cowardly.”  
“You want to get hurt?”  
“Better hurt and some honor than giving up and ending chained to a chair like a kindergarten girl. I assume you’ll win, but well, I tried. I don’t want to be know as the CSI who was as stupid as the cop. Or are you really scared of a CSI? A lab rat.”  
“I didn’t have my workout today, why not.” He put the gun away, far enough so Sofia couldn’t reach it. “It will be like in the wild west, getting the bastard down before you leave them for the wolves.”  
“I like dogs.”  
“Come on, try me, bitch.”  
“Why does everybody call me a bitch?” Sara wondered. She walked slowly towards Hank, who grabbed a slim board when she was close enough and stroke out. Instead of Sara he hit nothing but Sara’s foot hit him right in his crotch. With a groan he went down.   
“Don’t be whiny.”   
“Bitch.” He jumped up, tried to grab her and got the tip of her elbow straight on his nose. She heard it broke, she saw how his eyes rolled back and he fell on the ground.   
“Pansy.” Sara took a plastic band, tied his arms together and because she was enjoying that, she tied his feet to the hands so that Hank looked like a badly wrapped gift.   
“Looks like your ego was too big to consider that as a smart CSI I wouldn’t ask for a fight if I wasn’t sure I’d win. Everybody underestimates me.”  
“Would you mind to get the keys to my cuffs?” Sofia asked.   
“He took your cuffs? Your guns and your cuffs? What kind of detective are you?”  
“Sara!”  
“For you it’s superwoman. I got down a six yards high shelf with no ladder, I fought and won against a man who had a gun when I came in the room, wrapped him up like a Christmas gift, I think I am superwoman.”  
“Get me free.”  
“You know, detective.” Sara walked slowly to Sofia, a smirk in her face. “You’re both helpless now. Being in control is a nice feeling, you don’t have that very often as a CSI.”  
“Get. The. Damn. Key.”  
“That’s why you’re not a CSI anymore. You don’t think, you’re not prepared and you’ve no patience.” Sara sat on Sofia’s lap.  
“What are you doing?”  
“Using the power I have over you. Close your eyes.”  
“What?”  
“You heard me.”  
“Sara, what…?”  
“Your eyes, please.”   
Sofia had no other choice than to obey. She felt how Sara got her arms around her, her lips came close to Sofia’s left ear.  
“Tell me if he hurt you and I’ll hurt him. I can tie him up a little bit more and he’ll have a lot of pain tomorrow. Nobody hurts my friends without any payback and broken nose plus a useless cock for a few days is not enough payback.”  
“I’m fine.”  
“Good.” Sara’s hands found the lock and the key, she had taken with her on her way from Hank to Sofia, opened the lock. He had underestimated her and had left the keys to the cuffs on the table, to mistakes you make when you’re too sure of yourself.   
As soon as her hands were free Sofia’s arms got around Sara, who was still half sitting on her lap.  
“I’m glad you’re here but never ever dare to play with me like that.”  
“I played him, I didn’t play with me.”  
“You did and you know that.”  
“I think I deserved some fun.”  
“Fun? Trouble. It’s not your job to risk your life nor is it your job to fight a killer.”  
“I had no other choice my detective was out of order for a moment. I know, as a CSI I’m not suppose to fight a killer, as a friend I’m suppose to help my friend when she’s in need. You know, a friend in need is a friend indeed.”  
“Thanks.”   
“You’re welcome.”  
“Twenty years of material arts. Seems like you use that a lot of week.”  
“Yeah, I think I don’t have to go to practice this week.” Sara got up, offered Sofia her hand and pulled her on her feet. “Go and call your officers, take the landline. We’ve no signal with our cell hone here.”  
“We’re not that far away from Vegas and I called Brass when were at the gate.”  
“Yeah I bet our little friend here build a blocker for the building. Oh and tell dayshift to come in, they have to find something to connect Hank to the bullet. I bet he build the bullet and the timer for the doll here. The perfect place.”  
“What will you do?”  
“I’ll enjoy my success for another minute and find mister Goodman. He has to close the whole building, no more deliveries for today. And I want to know everything about Hank, what else does he have – beside a shitty name.”  
“You need to tell me the story about Hank and you.”  
“I don’t have to anything, detective. You owe my a favor, not the other way around.” Sara grinned. “Get out and call for back-up I’ll watch the little genius.” Maybe she’d tie him up a little bit more, or give him another kick as soon as he moved bit. At least she had to make sure he wouldn’t run.   
With a grin she handed Sofia her gun back.  
“Thanks.”  
“Next time keep it, detective.”  
“Says the one who threw away her gun.”  
“All for the glory and the life of the detective.”   
“The stupid one who doesn’t use her head.”  
“That’s why she is only a detective and not a CSI.” Sara chuckled. She had to admit, saying all these things about Sofia while the blonde could do or say anything to stop her, had felt quite good. Sara wouldn’t mind to find Sofia a few times a year chained to a chair, depending on Sara’s help so that the brunette could insult the blonde without any consequences. 

“Hey.” Sara had found her way to Sofia’s office. “Got my report for you.”  
“Since when do you bring me your report?”   
“Only today to make sure we wrote the same in our reports.”  
“That you had to rescue me, superwoman?”  
“Well first I wanted to leave that out, but I he mentioned how he got you so I thought I can’t make up a complete new story.” Sara handed Sofia the report, opened so that the blonde could read it right away.   
“…could I use the psychological issue of the suspect to get his attention and made him put his gun away. He was caught in one of his ‘episodes’, saw himself as a hero and started to fight me. Because detective Curtis got his attention for a split of a second I was able to hit him in the face and kick him in the lower abdomen. That made him lose his consciousness so I was able to tie him up before detective Curtis secured him and called for back-up.” Sofia looked at Sara. She had heard what Hank had said, this wasn’t what really happened, it was close to what Hank had told the police, beside the fact in his story he was a hero and Sara had played unfair.   
“You made it sound like I’ve helped you to get him down.”  
“You did.”  
“We both know…”  
“You did.” Sara smiled. “Keep your report close to mine, I’m in no mood the re-write it. According to doctor Weinberg the statement Hank gave Brass and Grissom is given under the influence of his personality issues, which doesn’t mean he’s not to find guilty by a jury, only that his story and the reality will be different.”  
“Did the doctor say that?” Sofia smiled.  
“Yes.”  
“Why not…something that comes closer to Hank’s story?”  
“Hank’s story? I told you he has this problem with his personality. I mean, who’d believe that fought a man with a gun? I’m not trained for that, I’m there for the evidence, the detective are the heroes.”  
“With a slightly different report you could amuse a lot of officers.”  
“Yeah, well I’m sure with a slightly different report from our trip south yesterday I could cause a lot of trouble, get Ecklie to go back to my therapist and so on. I think we should keep the reports like they are.”  
“Sara, even you change this report, I’d never write anything else than I did about yesterday.” Sofia said serious.   
“Do you think your report might sound like mine?”  
“I think that’s possible.”   
“Good.” Sara’s left corner of the mouth got up. “I’m too tired to discuss that any longer. It’s almost noon, time to go to bed. I requested a night off on Saturday, heard it’s a good time for a night out. You should think about the same.”  
“I did. My boss told me I deserve a day off.”  
“Good for you, we might meet if we’re both out.”  
“You never know, you might be in bar, order a cocktail and out of the blue I’ll be next to you, asking for a beer.”  
“In that case, see you later, detective.”  
“See you later, investigator. Thanks for the…report.”  
“You’re welcome.” Sara smiled. There was no reason to tell the rest of the department the whole truth. This was a truth everybody could live with. 

“I think Jack is a great guy.” Greg held his whiskey cola in one hand while he leant with the other arm on the bar.   
“He’s nice in a colorful cocktail.” Sara took a sip of her cocktail. Weekend. A day off.  
“We closed the case, we’re due for some drinks. I’ve to say I was a little scared when we…”  
“Greg, if you dare to talk about the case I’ll grab your hair and will make your head meet the bar a few times.” Jules warned. They had the night off, the case was close, she didn’t want to hear anything off the case for the rest of the night. Nothing.  
“Okay, no work…where’s DD?”  
“Out.”  
“Why not with us?”  
“Ask DD.” DD – or Dorothea Delia – was Jules’ current girlfriend. Neither Greg nor Sara understood the kind of relationship these two women had. Jules called it an open relationship, Greg wasn’t sure if it wasn’t more than an excuse to have someone, to be not alone. Most of the times Jules and DD weren’t out together. They saw each other at their places, they had weekends together, made short trips but they both had other people in bed when they were apart. And both knew that, both were okay with that. Not that kind of relationship Greg could handle or understand. For Jules and DD it had worked out for over half a year.   
“If I ever see her again I will.”  
“You know where she lives, pay a visit.”  
“Might do that.”  
“Is he sleeping in my room tonight?” Jules asked Sara.  
“Yeah.” Jules’ room was Sara’s guest room. Most times it was Jules who slept in there. When they were out, when Sara’s place was closer from a place Jules had celebrated, when she felt like seeing Sara. Jules had her own key to Sara’s condo, she could come and go whenever she felt like it and she did so. This way Sara got surprised with huge fresh cooked breakfasts every now and then or a fresh stocked fridge   
“In that case I’ll take the couch if I won’t stay somewhere else.”  
“Feel free to do so.”   
“You can share a bed with me.” Greg offered.  
“Greg, we tried that already. You’re really cute and I really like you but somehow a man isn’t what I want in my bed. You guys are not as much fun as a woman. You need to make me very drunk to get me in your bed.”  
“Want another tequila?” Greg offered coy.  
“I do. So does the brunette next to me and the gorgeous blonde just coming in.” Jules had seen Sofia. The entrance was a level higher, with the right place at the bar you saw everybody who came in.   
“She looks damn sexy.” Greg admired. Dressed in black, skintight jeans, tight top and black shoes Sofia made her way through the people. She, a trained detective, had seen her friends too.   
“Don’t try to hit on her, Greg.” Sara advised.   
“I won’t. Like I said, I’m not into blondes.”  
“I am. I’ll try to get into her bed or get her in my casino room. A hot detective, can’t remember the last time had a cop.”  
“Somebody else of the law enforcement team?” Greg asked grinning.  
“I do remember that. Didn’t work out both times but sometimes it’s better to have a friendship than a relationship.”  
“To hear these words from you is rare.” Sara said dryly.   
“Drink your tequila.” Jules gave Sara her tequila.  
“Thanks.”  
“One for Greggo and one for the hot blonde.”  
“Thanks. Twice.” Sofia smiled. A tequila, what a nice way to be welcomed.   
“Don’t dare to talk about work tonight or she’ll kill you.” Greg warned Sofia.  
“I don’t plan to do so, I’ve a night off, I don’t want to talk about work.”  
“That’s why you meet colleagues?” Sara teased.  
“She doesn’t, she’s meeting friends. Now Sidle, if you want to make trouble, forget it and use your energy to get us some more drinks. Good ones.” Jules demanded.  
“Alright. What do you want?” She asked Sofia.  
“A beer.”  
“Beer? Law enforcement.” Jules shook her head.   
“We’re not as fancy as doctors.” Greg took his vodka mix drink with a smile. Jules got her bottle with dangerous green looking stuff inside, Sara took a cocktail and Sofia got her beer.  
“At least beer is in a bottle. Wanna dance, Sofia?” Jules asked.  
“Not now, thanks.”  
“I’ll hit the floor with you.” Greg took Jules’ hand. “Come on, we’ll find somebody to play with. Let’s see who gets lucky first.”   
“Is that a challenge, vodka boy?”  
“Yes it is.” He blinked at her and both left the bar to go on the dance floor, leaving Sara and Sofia to themselves.   
“Do they mean it like they said it?” Sofia asked.  
“Huh?”  
“Getting lucky?”  
“It’s their goal for tonight yes. And only because you’re with us the first time I’ll warn you: Jules has you on top of her list as her dish of the night. Be prepared for some indecent proposals.”  
“Okay.” Sofia laughed. “Thanks for the warning. I’ll stay sober enough to deny all her wishes. This is my last drink anyway, I want to drive home.”  
“You want to drive?” Sara furrowed her brows.  
“Yes. I hate cabs and I won’t get a hotel room for five hours of sleep.”  
“You can stay at my place.”  
“I thought Greg stays there.”  
“If he won’t get lucky he will. He can take the couch, you can have the guest room.”  
“There’s no need to send him to the couch.”  
“That’s alright, he sleeps there frequently. It’s a comfortably couch.”  
“Your whole house looks comfortable.”  
“Thanks.”  
“I never expected a condo like that when I came to your place, to be honest.”  
“What did you expect?” Sara cocked her head.   
“I don’t know…something dark…dark furniture, no colors, a lot books, a condo made for somebody who lives for the job and not a colorful place with a party balcony.”  
“I guess this would be a good time to be mad at you, but you’re right. My condo looked like you said a few years ago. Before Jules came in my life. She changed it completely, said she couldn’t stay in a dark geek hole. So she refurnished my condo, decorated the balcony and got some of my holiday photos as posters on the wall. It took her two weeks to change my condo completely and sell the old furniture.”  
“You let her do that?”  
“Yes….and yes.” Sara added to answer the unasked question.  
“Yes?”  
“Yes to the question you wanted to asked but didn’t dare to ask. Jules and me were a couple, that was the reason why she stopped being my therapist. We realized fast we’re attracted to each other, I took another therapist and we became a couple. It didn’t work out as you can see, but we kept a very close friendship.”  
“Wow.”  
“It’s not that unusual to have a relationship with a woman when you’re a woman. At least I thought it’s not that unusual anymore these days.”  
“No, the ‘wow’ was more for ‘wow, you really told me that?’. That’s not Sara Sidle like. Not the Sara Sidle I knew before the last case – which we won’t talk about.”  
Sara laughed. “I think you realized Jules and me are close after she opened the door for you when you came over the first time.”  
“I was wondering yes. She moved around like she was more than a guest.”  
“It’s like her second home, she has a key, she comes and goes like she wants. When she’s off duty and I come home she sometimes sits on the couch, a breakfast for us in front of her and we watch stupid old cartoons for a few hours, eat, drink a few beer or cocktails before I go to bed and she cleans up the mess and goes back home. It’s like having a house mate who isn’t there most times of the week.”  
“And you are not a couple anymore?”  
“No.” Sara laughed. “No, that’s long over. She’s fine with DD – fine in their way.”  
“Open relationship?”  
“That obvious?”  
“She wants to get laid, looks like she doesn’t do that for the first time, doesn’t act like she has to make sure her partner doesn’t know, everything points to an open relationship.”  
“It’s a pity you waste your sharp eyes and your observation talent on being a detective instead of working as a CSI.” Sara grinned.  
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. Not only was it work related but it also makes me believe you think a detective isn’t worth much. Like saving the life of a CSI is nothing. Elegantly I’ll change the topic back to tonight, asking you what are your plans for tonight?”  
“Mine? Having a good time, some drinks, a few dances and go home and have a long sleep in my bed – alone.”  
“Alone?”  
“Yeah. I’ll take a smug blonde with me home but she’ll sleep in another room.”  
“Will she?”  
“Yes.” Sara lifted two fingers and a few seconds later she had another cocktail and another beer next to her. Being a regular guest gave her some advantages. One was being the ex flirt of the bartender. Another relationship that hadn’t work out but at least he had told her, he wanted to have fun with other people and didn’t cheat on her. She was still friendly with him, they flirted occasionally but never crossed the line of a flirt anymore. Like Jules had said before, sometimes a friendship was worth more than a relationship. 

“Are you sure this is really okay?”  
“Sofia, you asked this three times within the last five minutes, we’re almost at my place if you don’t stop asking this stupid question I’ll make you sleep in my car.”  
“While you’re driving it?”  
“I’m not allowed to drive anymore, detective.”  
“So your car is a save place? Actually, I believe you can’t drive worse being than being sober, Sidle…ouch.” Sofia held her shoulder where Sara’s fist had hit her.   
“Assaulting an officer can bring you behind bars.”  
“I didn’t assault an officer, I assaulted a detective, a smug one.”  
“I won’t report you because you called me a detective…and because I’m too tired to go through all the fuzz that comes along with having you arrested.”  
“Sure thing.” Sara opened the door to her condo and let Sofia walk in.   
“You know, as a good host you should offer me your bed.”  
“I told you I’ll sleep alone in my bed.”  
“I wasn’t talking about sharing it with you.”  
“You’ll get the guest room or the couch, choose one. My bed is off limit for you. Both have sheets and pillows, both are ready to snuggle in and sleep.”  
“Bed.” In case Greg came along later she didn’t want to be waken up by him.   
Greg. All the time she had thought he had a huge crush on Sara, when she saw them dancing tonight, she was close to admit, they were lovers, there hadn’t been space for a sheet of paper between them on the dance floor, his hands were on her body, not willing to let her move a away a bit while her arms were embraced around his neck, placing her face very close to his face.   
A lab romance. A teasing couple that finally had found each other. Friend who had discovered they felt more than friendship for each other. She had smiled, sighed and thought, it would be hard not to mention something like this when they were together at a scene and she had to leave them alone in a room. So many chances to tease them, to mock them. For an hour or so Sofia had built a perfect comment to throw at Sara when they had a minute alone.   
Then Jules had dragged her on the dance floor, had made it more than clear that she was interested in Sofia, wanted Sofia to keep her company through the night. The doctor didn’t cross a line, didn’t do anything that made Sofia tell her off, push her away. The blonde smiled, thanked the dark brunette for her interested and told her, she had no chance to end up in bed with Sofia. Something Jules only commented with, being in bed was boring, she knew more exciting places for them to have fun. But she understood, didn’t stop flirting but stayed within the line.   
After that she got Sara at the bar, was ready to tease her that Greg got what he always wanted when her eyes fell on the young CSI, who was still on the dance floor. What she saw made her forget everything she wanted to say. Greg was not only dancing, he was dancing very close and very…well obscene was the right word…and instead of being face to face like he was to Sara, he was more tongue to tongue. Had he said, he was into brunette, he showed her it was the truth. Brunette, well build, a little taller than he was and…male. Her old colleague was definitely french-kissing a man. Okay, it was more than obvious that most of the people in the club were more into having fun with a same sex partner although Sofia had seen a few opposite sex couples, but ninety percent weren’t.   
She had been surprised first, mostly because she hadn’t thought Sara was into places like this. This rumor about Sara and Grissom had been around the office, nobody ever got a proof of if it was right or wrong, but it had always been her and her supervisor. To this the flirt with Greg, there was no hint of that Sara was anything than attracted to men. Her statement that she and Jules had been a couple was a surprise, more because she told Sofia about it like she told her the forecast for the next days. Sara had been good for a lot of surprises this week. She saw her in a different light now.   
“Are you asleep already?” Sara came in the guest room. Sofia got lost in her thoughts, sitting on the bed.   
“Just thinking.”  
“Heavy thinking. Here, I’ve some boxers and a shirt for you, I guess you prefer to have something to wear while you sleep; something you haven’t been in the whole evening. And you might need this too.” She handed Sofia a little bag with a toothbrush and toothpaste.   
Had Sara been prepared? Did she plan this?  
“I’ve a spare one here all the time. Jules and Greg have their own in the bathroom, but sometimes DD stays over too and she hasn’t got anything here. So I’ve a couple of this travel kits because she forgets to bring her own or takes it with her.” Sara explained like she had read Sofia’s mind.  
“Thanks.”  
“Do you get thirsty after a night like this?”  
“Huh?”  
Sara laughed. “Do you wake up thirsty because of all the alcohol?”  
“Sometimes.”  
“Okay, get in the bathroom, I’ll get you some water. Grab a towel from the staple in the bathroom and help yourself to whatever else you might need. Just stay away from Greg’s perfume, he insists to sniff it off your skin otherwise.” Sara grinned widely.   
“Why should I wear his perfume?”  
“It smells damn good and it’s unisex.”  
“Everything here seems to be unisex.” Sofia mumbled.  
“Huh?”  
“Nothing.”  
“Got your picture of the world shaken up, Sofia? Were there too many things tonight, you didn’t know of?” Sara teased.   
“Since I stood with these sundaes in front of your door everything seemed to be strange and not like it was before. The whole week was a kind of – I don’t know – not what I expected it to be. Not like other weeks.”  
“You don’t look too upset with that.”  
“I’m not, it’s interesting.”  
“And I can promise you, everybody will accept your ‘no’ in this house. No matter how close they tried to get to you on the dance floor.”  
“Can’t remember you trying to get close to me on the dance floor.”  
“We weren’t dancing, Sofia. That was in your dreams. I’m honored to be in your dreams but in reality there were always a few people between us while we were dancing.”  
“Nobody else is here.”  
“At the moment, that might change. But nobody will join you in this bed. Have a good sleep, in case you’re awake before anybody else is, help yourself to some coffee and whatever you fancy for a breakfast.”  
“Thanks.”  
“You’re welcome. Good night.”  
“Night, sleep tight.” Sofia took all the things Sara had given her and vanished in the bathroom.   
Sara got a small bottle of water and placed it next to Sofia’s bed. She did the same with the couch because she knew, if Greg or Jules would crash in, they needed the water. The third bottle was for herself. She had water next to her bed every night. After nights like this one she could drink a whole bottle without really waking up.   
She had seen the surprise in Sofia’s face a few times tonight. First when the blonde entered the club and found out, it wasn’t an ordinary club. Not only was it visible that most couples were same sex couples, but also tried to hit a tall black haired woman on Sofia after only a few yards. Getting over her confusion quite fast, Sofia smiled and dismissed the woman without being rude.   
The second time was when Sara had told her about herself and Jules. The ‘Wow’ was not only – like Sofia had claimed - because Sara had told her about the relationship, but also because Sara had been involved with a woman. She knew about the rumors of her and Grissom. Well, it wasn’t a rumor when it was true, was it? But that was past. It was after Jules, had nothing to do with Jules or the failure of their love relationship. Grissom had been the reason why Sara changed from San Francisco to Las Vegas. She lost her interest in him after a while, met other people, like Jules, before she and Grissom had a relationship for over a year nobody in the department knew off.   
Greg was the reason why Sofia had been surprised the third time. Seeing her colleague kissing a man wasn’t what Sofia had expected. Sara knew after seeing her and Greg together the last few days, Sofia tempted to think there was something between Sara and Greg going on. Seeing him kissing this man blew off her world.   
She would get over all these things, Sara was sure. Sofia had never reacted negative of any of these surprises. She only needed a second to replace her old knowledge with the knew one and was fine with that. Maybe the blonde would become a permanent member of their group. So far it had been the three of them plus whoever was with them. DD for last few months, but she was more with her own old friends than with them. Sara’s and Greg’s last partners also didn’t make it to be a permanent member of their little group. If Sofia made it in the group, they were four. So far the blonde fit in perfectly.   
Sara had no idea if she had been asleep already when her door got opened. From the sound of the footsteps she recognized whoever came in her room knew where to go without switching on the light or asking for direction. That ruled out Sofia and Sara was quite sure, it ruled out Greg too. When her blanket was moved away and two arms embraced her from behind, she smelled Jules’ perfume.  
“Who invited you in my bed?” Sara chuckled.   
“Greg snores on the couch, I don’t want to listen to that and I figured if I climb in the guest bed next to this adorable blonde, she’ll have me restrained and arrested before I’ve a change to get my hand on her skin.” Jules snuggled closer to Sara’s back, her face in Sara’s hair.   
“I told her nobody would join her, she’s safe in the bed.”  
“Mhm, she is.”  
“What made you change your mind? I thought you wanted to get lucky tonight.”  
“I did. Twice. But it wasn’t good enough to wake up next to her. I prefer to wake up next to you. Our puppy had his fun too. He came out of the room next to mine when I left. We brought each other home.”  
“Good to know.”  
“Yeah, but why falls he asleep on your couch while I’m in the bathroom. My plan was to be in there first so that when he goes in I can capture the couch.”  
“Seems like he had his bathroom time already in the casino.”  
“Yeah. Mean. Well, brought me to you, no reason to complain.”  
“Not for you.”  
“Not for you either. Otherwise you had Greg in here. Prefer him?”  
“He should be exhausted for tonight.”  
“Sara, we both know, for you he’d get all his energy back.”  
“To realize I’d kick him that hard he won’t get lucky the next days or weeks.”  
“You’re a cruel woman, Sara Sidle.”  
“I am.”  
“I love you for that. Sleep tight.” Jules kissed Sara’s hair, sighed satisfied and instantly asleep. Just like Greg had before when he laid down on the couch.   
“Night Jules.” Sara stroke one of Jules’ hands and closed her eyes. Seemed like they had enjoyed the same club, would all sleep at her place and would share a late brunch together in a few hours. No better way to spend a night off. 

Sunshine could be gruesome after a long night with a lot of alcohol. The bright rays stabbed into your eyes, caused the head to protest, the eyes to beg that they could be closed and the headache you hoped you had slept away, was back.  
Luckily Sara didn’t have too many drinks and was fine sitting on her balcony, a coffee and a bowl of chopped fruits in front of her. When she walked through the living room half an hour ago, Greg was still asleep, so was Jules when Sara left her bed forty-five minutes ago. She hadn’t seen anything of Sofia, hadn’t checked if the blonde was still here or if had left to go home.   
That question got answered when Sara got company on the balcony. With a mug in her hands Sofia came out, still wearing the top and the boxer. Her wet hair showed she had used the shower, taking the offer Sara had made her last night.   
“Good afternoon.” Sara smiled.   
“It is, isn’t it? Already afternoon.” Sofia sat next to Sara on one of the wooden chairs.   
“A few more hours and we’re back to work.”  
“How am I suppose to work with you, Sara after this night?”  
“I can’t recall anything that might made a problem working with you.” Sara furrowed her brows. Did she forget anything? Was Sofia talking about their incident in the desert? They had talked that out, it should be out of their way.   
“Seeing you like a human and not a geek will make me work differently with you, Sara.”  
“You’re crazy.” Sara was relieved it had nothing with their fight to do. For a second she had been scared.   
“That’s what I think of you too.”  
“Did you enjoy our night out?”   
“Yes.” Sofia smiled. “Never thought I would but it was great. Your ex tried to hit on me.”  
“Which one?” Sara shot back dryly.   
“How many did I meet?”  
“You’re the detective, go detect it yourself.”  
“Funny. I was talking about your doc.”  
“She has a weakness for blondes, you are exactly what she’s looking for. And Jules isn’t somebody who holds back. But she accepts a ‘no’ so there’s no reason to worry.”  
“I don’t worry.”  
“She slept in my bed, scared you might restrain and arrest her if she comes to you, gets her hands on you.”  
“She’s absolutely right on that. I’d throw her myself in a cell with a horny football team.”  
“You wouldn’t.”  
“She got what she wanted or she tried you?”  
“She was happy when she came to me, same with Greg. They both got what they wanted, all they needed here was some sleep.”  
“You have to wake them up later.”  
“Yes Greg, Jules can sleep as long as she wants. At one point DD could come over and tell her to come home, but that won’t bother us.”  
“How can you be in a relationship and have sex with somebody else while your partner is doing the same? What is the point of the relationship?”  
“Don’t ask me, I can’t tell you. Ask her, I guess you’ve to be made for this kind of relationship. Some say it’s about trust, some say it’s about freedom, both don’t work for me. I know Jules is able to have an ordinary relationship, with DD she had never have an interest in that. Maybe she just wants to try something new.”  
“So do I, a new drink, a new ice cream.”  
Sara chuckled. “Too boring for this group.”  
“I found that out. You’re a crazy trio.”  
“Loveable.”  
“That too.”  
“Glad you say so.”  
“Why?”  
“Jules wants you to join us more often.”  
“Does she?” Sofia smiled a bit.  
“Yeah. And I’m sure Greg won’t mind either. After all it was his idea to take you with us last night.”  
“So poor you have to put up with me because you’re overruled?”  
“Looks like. That’s what you call bloody democratic.”   
“They told you to make me stay here?”  
“They expected me to do so.”  
“Pressure everywhere. You don’t look too annoyed with me being here, Sara. I’ve problems to believe you don’t want me here.” Sofia smirked and leant back. Sara was playing with her, she could play this game too.  
“I should have been an actress.”  
“Yeah, the part as a bitch would suits you so perfectly.”  
“Or the killer who threw the smug cop ten stories deep from the balcony.”  
“Are we really ten stories high?”  
“Wanna count while you fly?”  
“I think I can count until ten.” Sofia got up, walked in front of the railing and opened her arms. “Come on, go along, throw me down.” She dared Sara.   
Sara got up, walked to the detective, who never lost eye contact with the investigator. One fast movement and Sara had Sofia in her arms and pulled her away from the railing, back to the chairs.   
“No free flight?” Sofia grinned.   
“You’re blond, you’ve no idea how much ten is.” Sara grumbled. She had lost the game, she knew it. Sofia had brought her in a situation, she couldn’t win.   
“You don’t want to kill me, Sara. You like me.”  
“Don’t dare me.”  
“I dared you already.”  
“Unfair.”  
“You’re not good enough to win against me.”  
“You’re daring me again.”  
“You’ll never throw me off the balcony.”  
“I would. If the condo is on fire, there’s no other way away from the flames and a huge net with a dozen firefighters is down waiting for us, I’d throw you before you burn alive.” Sara smiled. That was something, she could see from Sofia’s face, the blonde hadn’t seen coming.   
“You’re an amazing woman, Sara Sidle.”  
“Thanks. I thought you’d never notice.” Sara smirked. Looked like at the end she had won the game. 

“Do you live here?” Greg greeted Sofia when he came on Sara’s balcony and saw the blonde there.   
“Jealous?”  
“I’ve a key. You?”  
“I’ve somebody who likes to open the door for me.”  
“You mean, somebody controls if you’re wanted inside or not.”  
“Bad puppy.”  
“You haven’t earned the right to call me puppy, detective.”  
“Puppy.”  
“You’ll regret that.”  
“Are you threatening me?”  
“Will you both stop bitching around? That’s my job.” Sara came to them with a tray and drinks on it. They had the evening off, it was Wednesday night, their cases were closed and none of them felt like going out.   
“You do it perfectly.” Greg smiled.  
“Shush.”  
“He’s cheeky today, what did you put into his bowl?”  
“The wrong stuff I’m afraid.”  
“Are you three girls fighting?” Jules came out, a big wooden chair in her hands. She put the chair down in front of Sofia.  
“What is that suppose to mean?”  
“You need some paint.”  
“Do I?”  
“Yes.”  
“Why?”  
“This will be your personal chair, you’re suppose to paint it the way you want it. No rules on color, picture, whatever. All yours.”  
“And why can’t I just sit on the chair I’m sitting on now? It has a lovely soft pillow and I don’t care that it’s only white.”  
“Because we’ll take it away, you’ve to use your own chair.”  
“Who makes these strange rules?”  
“We.”  
“And I’ve to obey because…?”  
“Sara, can I kiss her? To get the stubbornness out of her head.”  
“You won’t do that for the stubbornness, you’d do it because you wanna get laid by the detective, Jules. Don’t try to lie to us that obviously. You’re crazy about her and it bothers you that she tells you the whole time to back off.”  
“Who’s the shrink now?” Jules grumbled.  
“I don’t have to be a shrink to see the obvious.”  
“Bullshit.”  
“What our lovely doc wants to tell you, Sofia.” Sara sat next to Jules, her hands linking to Jules. “Is that we’re about to take you into our group if you want.”  
“Group?”  
“Yeah, you know like D’Argantione and the three musketeers.” Greg grinned.   
“All I have to do is to get some color on that chair?” Sofia asked. She had noticed the last times Greg, Sara and Jules sat all the time on the same chairs and all chairs had different colors and pictures.   
“We won’t make you jump from the balcony for a proof of courage.” Greg laughed.   
“I’ve to check for the small print first. I’m concerned at the end I agree and you’ll tell me I’ve to have sex with each of you.”  
“That would be a great idea!” Jules smirked. “I’d sacrifice myself for the other two.”  
“I’m not into blondes, you can have her for me.” Greg offered.   
“Thanks, you’re a true friend, Greg. Sara?”  
“Leave your hands linked to mine, Sofia will hurt you when you try to get them on her and I’ll help her. She said no, you do accept a no.”  
“You’re boring.”  
“I knew it.”  
“How can somebody in a highly moral job like you be such a…vamp in private, Jules?” Sofia asked laughing. So far she wasn’t annoyed that the psychologist tried to get close to her whenever they met.  
“I love the extremes – and the blonde detective.”  
“Save it. If all I’ve to do is paint a chair to be a member of your group I’ll join.”  
“Not even a little welcome kiss for the doc?”  
“Want to be restrained?”  
“To your bed, you all over my body? Yes, immediately. In return I’d do the same for you and believe me, you would not have the power at the end to move a single limb.”  
“Will she stop when I’m a member?” Sofia asked Sara.   
“I’m afraid no.”  
“Jules, you have this girlfriend I haven’t seen so far, go to her, do all these things you plan to do with me, with her.”  
“Too boring, she’s my girlfriend and not a hot blonde.”  
“Stunning blonde.” Sara corrected.  
“Are you trying to steal her away from me, Sara Sidle?” Jules got her hands free and crossed her arms in front of her chest.   
“I can’t steal her from you because you don’t have her.”  
“Would you if I had her?”  
“I don’t have to answer such a stupid question. Why don’t you give DD a call to come over?”  
“Because I don’t like being rejected.”   
“Unbelievable.” Sofia laughed.   
“By my girlfriend.” Jules grumbled.  
“DD isn’t a frequent guest.” Sara explained. “Somehow she doesn’t enjoy Greg’s and my company, she prefer to stay away, to spend time with other people. That’s why she isn’t a member of our club.”  
“Means I’m your first member?”  
“Yes. It never fit before, with you it was like you have been with us for years…well you have been with Sara and me for years…we have the work advantages and for Jules it’s enough that you’re a beautiful blond with deep blue eyes and single.”  
“She’s easy to please.”  
“You’ve no idea how difficult it is to find a beautiful blond.” Jules sighed.   
“Your girlfriend isn’t blond?”  
“No. Light brown. Which wouldn’t be a problem, we’re happy. It just sucks sometimes that she doesn’t want to join us here. I’ve no idea why. It’s not like the three of you fight when you meet each other.”  
“No.” Sara shook her head. She had no problems with DD, they were friendly, but there had never been a connection. They could talk for a while but it wasn’t something they were looking forward to. When she planed to meet Greg or Jules, she looked forward to do so. She even enjoyed talking to Sofia, what she considered as a little wonder after all the less nice moments they had been through.   
“Will I ever meet her?”  
“Yeah, the next time we go out I’ll drag her with us.”  
“Ever offered her to join your club?”  
“No.”  
“Maybe you should.”  
“To let her tell me it’s a stupid idea because I know exactly she prefers to spend time with her old friends? No, DD and my problem is, we can’t connect our friends together, it doesn’t work out, we tried. And because our friends are very important for us, we spend less time together. And no, I don’t need an explanation for that.”  
“Of course not, you’re the psychologist.” Sofia smiled.   
“Women and relationships, a never ending problem.”  
“Careful, puppy.”  
“Gonna prove me wrong, doc? Your relationship is strange, the other two are singles. Can’t see a happy married woman here.”  
“Do I look unhappy to you?” Sara asked.  
“No, but you look happier when you’re in love.”  
“Where’s your ring?” Sofia demanded to know.  
“Men are not into commitments.”  
“There’s your answer why women and relationships are a never ending problem is. Men make it a problem.”  
“Not always, as we see there.” He pointed at Jules.  
“Bad puppy.”  
“Yeah, I’m a cute, adorable puppy between three bitches. Poor me.”  
“Three bitches and a puppy? That’s a lovely name for our group.” Sara laughed. She had to say Greg had sometimes really good ideas. They were looking for a name for a long time, this one was good. If they found somebody new for their club they could choose it to four bitches and a puppy or three bitches, a puppy and a dog. They’d find something else then.


End file.
